Into The Woods
by Roxi2Pyrien
Summary: "Good point. So, together then?" He held out his hand to Lovino. "We'll find the treasure and split it." "Right." "Hope you don't mind sharing with a wolf." Antonio said with a grin, his teeth sharp and his eyes glowing yellow.
1. Chapter 1

_Once upon a time, there was a land where everyone lived happily ever after_

_But the Happily Ever Afters have since gone away, leaving nothing but darkness, corruption and a world without a hero of the story _

Lovino stepped over the pebbled path that led through the woods. He pulled his cloak tighter around himself as the chilled morning air brushed over his skin, sending goosebumps up his pale arms and legs. The red material draped over him, making him feel safer as he walked. Over and over, his grandfather had warned him about walking alone through the woods, something about wolves, but he wasn't afraid! Or so he told himself. He just liked proving the old man wrong when he showed up to the small house, oh so conveniently placed in the middle of nowhere.

A shiver ran up his spine as he glanced around at the impossible tall trees. "There's no such things as big bad wolves…" he mumbled softly under his breath, brushing the feeling off on the cool morning air. He tugged the red hood a bit further over his head. It wasn't much, but it still let him feel just a bit more secure.

As time went on and the golden yellow sun sank further over the top of the green trees, Lovino felt eyes on him. He almost always did coming through this part of the woods. "There's no such thing!" he reminded himself, though he was less sure now than before that his words were even true to begin with.

Lovino found himself pausing moments later, a man just up ahead was resting on a log, leaned against a tree. Lovino took a step closer, a feeling of excitement and fear running down his back and through his stomach. The man looked to be just taller than with thick curls of dark hair tucked under a newsboy hat. His skin was dusted with a rough tan and he seemed a bit rugged with his sharp jaw and broad shoulders. Lovino jumped when the man moved, his green eyes trained on Lovino with an intent look.

Lovino continued on his way, forcing himself to look away. He wanted to swing the basket of food into the stranger's face when he heard the crunching of his footsteps behind him, but had to force himself not too. The terrified young man clung to said basket with a vice grip as he picked up his pace.

"Why are you running so fast?" the man behind him said, grabbing his shoulder.

Lovino whipped around and slammed his hand into the other's cheek as hard as he could. The man stood there, confused for a moment. "You dropped this." he turned his head to face Lovino again, a smile spread across his face. He knew he'd been a bit scary, so he didn't hold it against Lovino for being frightened.

In his hands, he held a coin bag that had fallen from Lovino's pocket as he hurried away from the stranger.

Lovino snatched it up out of his hand, "Thank you." he mumbled, his cheeks red from pure embarrassment. How could he possibly assume this guy would hurt him? His damned grandfather was always putting those thoughts in his head! "Sorry… for hitting you." he said, tucking the little bag back into his pocket.

"It's fine, I've been hit by bigger and brattier." the man beamed, his voice light and full of an energy he couldn't quite explain, but made him feel a bit at ease with him. "What are you doing out in these woods anyway? I've never seen you here before and it's not always safe out here. I mean, aren't you afraid of wolves?"

Lovino's cheeks puffed up and he immediately went to give this man the same speech he gave his grandfather, "I'm not afraid of wolves!" he snapped, angrily, "I know how to handle them any day." he boasted with a nod. Of course this was all a lie and he knew it.

The man chuckled softly, "Is that so? That's wonderful~ Wolves are very dangerous creatures."

"I'm not afraid!"

"I know, I know, I heard you." he smiled.

The cloaked man huffed, "What are you doing out here then? Aren't you afraid of wolves?"

A glint of joy and something Lovino didn't quite recognize lit up in the other man's eyes, "Not anymore, now that you're here~" he cooed softly, making Lovino's cheeks light up with flattery now. Oh this man knew the way to his heart! Well, at least the way to flirt properly.

"Ha ha." Lovino scoffed, "Very funny. Really, aren't you scared you're going to get eaten?"

"Not really." the other answered truthfully, "Like you, I know how to handle them and not get attacked." he said with confidence.

Lovino raised his brow, but said nothing on the matter. Maybe he could talk the other into escorting him the rest of the way. If he knew how to ward off wolves, then Lovino wanted him to travel with him the rest of the way. "Somehow, I don't believe you." Lovino said with a hum. Maybe he could trick the other.

"Why wouldn't you believe me?" he asked.

"Because I like proof. I don't think you can handle yourself against a wolf." he said, matter of factly.

The other man blinked and pouted slightly, "I can too! Should I travel with you to prove it?"

Lovino grinned. Bingo. "I don't know. I suppose that might work if we ran into a wolf." he looked at his nails pretending to be uninterested, a smirk playing at his lips

"Great, then let's get going~" the man grinned.

He nodded and began walking towards his grandfather's house. However, once again, he paused, "I don't even know your name…"

"Me? I'm Antonio. And you?"

"Lovino."

Antonio smiled, "It's nice to meet you, Lovino." he moved to start walking again, but a whooshing noise, followed by a loud clack echoed around them.

They both looked to the tree and saw an axe embedded in the bark. Antonio swallowed hard and looked up the brush covered hill where a tall, well built man glared down at them. He was covered head to toe in a long, tattered brown coat. On his head was a dark rimmed hat, and a scarf covered most of his face, his eyes poking out from over top, but only to be covered by some sort of mask, or goggles.

"I don't suppose you know how to handle murderers…?" Lovino asked, his voice trembling.

"Not at all. Run!" he turned and pulled Lovino off the path and down the hill.

Lovino yelped in fear as he tried to keep up with the other. He was fast, almost too fast for Lovino. Which Lovino found odd because he was a quick runner. He shook the thought and turned his head back to see the man was chasing them, axe back in his hand.

Whipping back around to face the direction he was running, he prayed they made it out of this alive. His heart pounded in his chest and sweat beaded down his face and back, but he kept running for dear life. The young man didn't dare stop in fear his life would be taken from him far too early.

He should have kept walking. Or never left his own home in the first place! His grandfather had been right all along. Lovino stumbled, tripping over his own feet. He landed against Antonio's back, sending them both to the ground and tumbling down the hill. Pain exploded all over Lovino's body every time he hit the ground and the world spun around him. Finally, they came to a stop at the bottom of the hill.

Dazed, Antonio looked up and around. The man chasing them was no where in sight. He didn't want to risk it though, especially when he didn't recognize anything. He helped Lovino back up to his feet and fixed his own hat before leading Lovino off down through the trees, trying to find a good place to hide.

Lovino looked around and frowned as they passed through a rusted gate and crossed into an overgrown pumpkin patch. There were big and small, almost white to a dark orange in color and spread out over the area. There was a large house in almost complete ruin. "We can hide in there…"

"Too obvious." Antonio said, turning to lead Lovino through more pumpkin, but towards what appeared to be a long path through the trees. He accepted it and walked with him through the winding path. It ended at a gazebo. The two sighed in relief and sat down on the seats to breathe and relax for a moment.

"What was that about…?" Lovino asked, looking up at Antonio. "Did you know him?"

"No." Antonio muttered, "I didn't know him, but I have a few guesses as to why he was coming after us." he said, fixing his hat, "But it doesn't matter. What we need to do is get to a village and find help before he gets-" he paused and stared at something.

Lovino looked over, "Oh my…" he whispered. Getting up, he walked over to a silken pillow sitting on the bench that circled the gazebo. Resting on top of it was a beautiful glass slipper. It was absolutely gorgeous despite the dust and dirt that clung to it from years and years of sitting there. Lovino gently ran his fingers over it.

"Is that a shoe… made of glass?" Antonio asked, walking over as well.

"Yeah, it is…" he said picking it up. He dusted it off and used the edge of his cloak to clean it up as best as he possibly could, just trying to make it shine like it once did. "It's beautiful…"

Antonio gingerly took it out of Lovino's hands, "I know what this is... They said it was lost over 100 years ago."

"What is it?"

"The lost slipper of the great Queen Cinderella. You know the story right?" Lovino shook his head. "Well, before she was a lovely Queen, she was a maid in her own home. But with a gift from her Fairy Godmother," He stood, turning to Lovino "She went to a ball, where she met her Prince. But she had to run away at Midnight, only leaving her Glass Slipper behind. So, the Prince searched for days and days, looking through the whole kingdom seeing who would fit the shoes." He leaned on one knee, "They say they would only fit those with pure hearts. Let's see if that's true."

Before Lovino could protest, his left shoe was removed. Antonio gently slipped the shoe on his foot. "Perfect fit." Antonio said with a smirk.

"How the hell-" Before Lovino could finish the shoe lit up in gold, lighting the ground. Words wrote themselves on the stone of floor.

_A treasure, a journey, a certain happy end, _

_For the good, the kind, to those whose hearts they lend. _

_One clue to another and this one the start._

_Find the tallest stalk, think with your heart. _

_Find it way up high_

_With the Giants in the sky. _

"A Treasure?" Antonio said reading it over. "I've heard of this... The great Royal treasure. Said to have gold and magical objects tucked away for the next great hero. People have been searching for years."

"How do you know all this stuff?" Lovino asked looking at the slipper on his foot. It kind of looked nice.

"I like history." he said to which Lovino laughed. "What?" Antonio asked with a confused look.

"I dunno. I just... I think it's kinda funny. You don't seem like a typical history buff. You seem more like..."

"Like?"

" Wild... Like a wolf." Lovino said before he laughed. "Or maybe a small dog, one who barks and growls while it shakes in fear."

"Says the little boy afraid of the big bad wolf." Antonio whispered leaning closer to him, his eyes seeming to glow. "But that's unimportant. What is important, is that this is a clue leading to treasure Lovino. I do not think you are quite wrapping your mind around that. Riches, gold. Money."

Lovino's eyes widened. He was so turned around from being chased by a murderer and having a handsome man slip an ancient shoe on his foot that he wasn't quite able to process the discovery of an ancient magical treasure quest.

"Oh." He paused reading the gold words. "Oh! Oh my god." Lovino's mind went straight to him finally using the money to leave his village and live a life without his family bearing down on him. Where he could do what he liked. "We have to find it."

"Why should I take you with me?" Antonio asked with a playful grin. "I already know what this clue means, so why do I need little brat like you? I'll admit you're cute but why should I take you with me?"

"Because...!" Lovino looked down at the slipper. "The shoe fit me. It's obviously meant for me! What if the other clues need me to activate them?"

"Good point. So, together then?" He held out his hand to Lovino. "We'll find the treasure and split it."

"Right."

"Hope you don't mind sharing with a wolf." Antonio said with a grin, his teeth sharp and his eyes glowing yellow.

"No, I- What?"


	2. Chapter 2

"W-wolf!?" Lovino stammered, stepping back. Fear and intrigue coursed through him as he stared into the yellow green eyes.

Antonio let out a chuckle and grinned, his eyes returning to normal, "Yes, wolf. If that's a problem, I'll just be on my way to the treasure and leave you alone."

"No way! I'm not letting you get that treasure all to yourself! Like I said, I know how to handle wolves." Lovino pouted turning his head away and crossing his arms

"Oh, and how is that?" Antonio asked with a smirk, getting closer to Lovino's face. He placed both hands on the wooden wall of the gazebo behind him, trapping Lovino between his arms.

"Like this." Lovino punched Antonio hard in the snout, making a soft crack. Antonio fell to his knees, holding his nose with a whimper.

"Yeah... That'll do it..." He whimpered again, standing up with shaking knees. "So, uh we have an understanding? You activate the clues, I solve them, you don't punch me in the snout and I don't eat your succulent creamy body."

"Creamy?" Lovino asked with grimace

"Very."

"Ok.. I'm going to pretend you never said that, and you're going to tell me what the hell this clue means."

"Oh, yeah it's Jack's Beanstalk." He said with a shrug. "The whole 'Giants in the Sky' thing should have really tipped you off."

"Whatever. Where is it." Lovino asked taking the slipper off, the gold flittering away.

"Pretty far. It's about a three or four day journey. We'll have to stop at the nearest village for supplies."

"Well we can't go back to mine. My family won't let me go if they find out." Lovino said with a sigh.

"We'll go to mine then. Although, it's kind of a wolf village... And well. Unless you're careful, you might... Well, get eaten. Or at least bitten. Most wolves don't take too kindly to Humans in our space."

"Can't you just go in?"

"What? And let you run off with the answer to get the gold yourself? I don't think so brat. You're staying right with me. Besides, I got a sure fire way to make sure they won't attack you. Wolves are all male. We mate with human girls. So we just gotta pass off that you are my very _female_ mate."

"What? Why not just make them believe I'm a wolf?" Lovino asked pouting.

"Lovino. I don't know how many wolves you met in your life but I'm rather small for one." Lovino but his lip looking at Antonio. He was quite a bit taller than he was..."Believe me, you'll be better off pretending to be a woman."

Lovino couldn't believe he was doing this. He folded his arms over his chest, a scowl written across his face. He had been forced into a skirt. He growled at his reflection in the water, before turning to Antonio who could hardly help himself for laughing

"Why do you even have this?" Lovino asked "And why did you have it on your person?"

"A friend left it behind. I was on my way to return it to her a few villages over. But I'm sure she won't mind if I hold onto it for a few more days." He said with a grin. "And you know what. it looks better on you than it ever did on her." He walked around Lovino with a smirk. "Shows off those succulent legs of yours." He brushed his hand on the back of his thighs.

A shiver ran up Lovino's back and he pulled the skirt lower, a dark blush seated across his cheeks.

"Shut up flea bag. What about my hair? And my lack of breasts."

"Easy. Short hair is a fashion after Virginia the great. And your cloak covers your chest and you'll have my coat on you. So as long as you don't get groped you'll be just fine."

"Why do I have to wear your coat?" Lovino asked

"You need my scent on you, so if I can't be right next to you, you won't get hurt or harassed." Antonio took his hand and pulled him down the path. "Now, here's what you'll have to do. You stay quiet. Do not comment on anything, and don't insult anyone." Lovino tugged his hand away from the other pouting. "Don't speak unless you're spoken too. In fact, if I can answer for you, let me. Next, try to stay as close to me as possible. If for some reason I can't stay with you, stay where I put you and if any one asks, you belong to me and I'll be back any second. And don't eat anything anyone offers you unless I tell you it's fine. You got all that?" Antonio asked

"Yeah yeah. Don't talk, don't move, don't eat. What's next, don't breath?"

"Slow even breaths would help."

Lovino smacked Antonio's arm, "Very funny."

"What makes you think I was joking? This is very serious. Erratic behavior, heavy breathing… obvious signs of your nervousness or anger can get them jumping. They could go wild. A wolf or two, I can handle, but if you get a pack after you, there's very little I can do." Antonio said simply, taking his jacket off, and placing it around Lovino's shoulders.

Lovino glared at him, not amused by anything he was having to do just to get a piece of that treasure. He stole one last look at himself before he was dragged away to deal with the wolves for some supplies. Were there even supplies a human could use in such a place? He could only hope so.

Antonio could only grin. Having his scent clinging to Lovino in the way that it was. It only made the young human that much more enticing to him. He shook his head and focused on getting them through the woods while avoiding meeting that man from before and finding his way back to his home. It wasn't nearly as hard as he thought it would be, but it was quite the hike through the trees none the less.

Upon reaching the entrance to the village of wolves, Lovino began to get an idea of just what he was dealing with. Not everyone held a form like Antonio did. No, of course there would be some trotting around in four legged, furry bodies. Almost all eyes were on them as they walked slowly through the village. Lovino swallowed hard and tightened his grip on Antonio's arm. He looked down, deciding to avoid eye contact period. Maybe they would just ignore them.

Unfortunately for him, that wasn't the case. No less than three wolves walked up all sniffing and interested in what Antonio had clinging to him.

They began barraging Antonio with question after question. "Who's this?", "She's cute, where'd you find her?", and "Is she your mate?" to name a few, though some got deep and personal and Lovino had to remind himself that these were very dangerous creatures he was dealing with before he ended up yelling at them for their lack of personal space.

Antonio was able to keep his cool, simply pulling Lovino closer to him while glaring at the other wolves. He gave them a warning smile, coupled with a soft growl. Most of them seemed to get the idea, backing off.

Antonio pulled Lovino into a store buying a backpack, matches, water tin, a pan and a few other things. He quickly paid for them and pulled Lovino out of the store without a word.

"Now, lets get some food. I think I can get us a ride to Golden Locks, which is about a day walk from the Beanstalk. We'll be able to rest and regroup there." Antonio told him "Now this is a pub I frequent. We'll just eat silently, and I'll get us a ride from a buddy of mine. Nice guy, doesn't mind people. He does a lot of the goods transport of the village and his pack."

Lovino nodded, pulling down his skirt again as Antonio pulled him into the pub. It was crowded and smelled bad. Lovino grimaced and tried not to glance around too much in fear one of them would notice he wasn't what he appeared to be. These wolves looked much tougher and meaner than the ones out in the streets, which made him question Antonio a bit.

He jumped when a brutish man stood up and stomped over to them. There was scarring on his face and his bare arms were covered in hair. Lovino swallowed hard, his stomach twisting with nerves as he hesitantly looked upwards at the man.

The man let out a soft rumbling grunt, " 'Scuse me…" he huffed, stepped around them.

Lovino felt relief washing over him, thinking that wolf was about to start a fight, one which Antonio and himself might lose considering that man towered over Antonio a good eight inches at least.

Antonio led him over to a corner and they sat down. Lovino felt immensely uncomfortable in this place. He looked up as a woman walked over. She had thick ropy scars diagonally sweeping across her wrinkled face, her grey hair up in a neat bun

"Can I take your order?" Her voice was gruff and scratchy.

"Two chicken plates." Antonio replied "And water." She gave a hum in response before walking off.

"What happened to her?" Lovino whispered.

"She's the mate of a Greyback, the oldest wolf in these woods. They say he's at least three hundred years old, and knew Snow White but that's just rumor. He's probably only like eighty." Antonio said with a shrug. "That's what happens when your a mate of a wolf, especially bigger and more violent ones."

"What, he like, hit her?"

"Not on purpose. During the full moon, we get... Twitchy. One wrong move and _Swat. _Scars and cuts. Most of the time we try to make sure we're as far from people we like as possible. We just hunt in the woods and get in fights with each other."

Lovino shrunk in on himself a bit. What had he gotten himself into? Would he end up like the old woman with scars all over his face from Antonio? Antonio seemed much more human than some of theses other wolves...

His thoughts were interrupted by two plates of meat being dropped onto the table in front of him. Antonio grinned helping himself, chewing and gnawing on the meat. Lovino looked at him, his stomach turning. while he seemed more human than these other wolves, he was still a wolf. He looked down at his own plate and poked at the food before hesitantly picking it up to nibble at it. The man found himself not all that hungry, but he did still need to eat something before they left.

Antonio was quick to finish his food. He grabbed up the cloth napkin and cleaned off his hands and face and looked up at Lovino, "Eat up, I have to find my friend before he leaves and we're stuck here or end up walking."

Lovino nodded and quickly swallowed down the food. There was no way he was wanting to stay here for any longer than he had to. He wanted to get out of the skirt and out of danger.

Once he was finished, he looked up at Antonio.

The wolf was glaring off at the people around him, almost daring them to try anything. He got up, "Come on now." he said to Lovino, who nodded and immediately clung to Antonio as they walked across the room. However, instead of leaving like Lovino had hoped, they sat down at another table where a man was enjoying a thick hearty soup.

"I need to talk to you about a favor…" Antonio said softly to him.

"'pends on what it is." He said finishing his soup. "You may be my little brother but that doesn't mean I'm at your beck and call." the wolf looked up with his ice blue eyes.

"I know, but I really need this." Antonio licked his lips, shifting a bit in his seat, "Dimas, I'm leaving for a while and I don't know when I'll be back. Could be a week, could be a few months. I've got most of what I need for this trip for me and my… mate." he said, hoping his brother didn't see straight through his lie. "I only have one thing left I need before I head out of here and it's mom's book."

Dimas raised his brow, "The one she read us as pups?"

"That's the one exactly!" Antonio perked up a bit, "Please tell me you still have it."

The wolf leaned back and crossed his arms, eyes darting between the two, "Why do you need it? Planning pups of your own soon or something? Hard to travel with those little buggers running around your feet."

Antonio and Lovino both went red and Lovino turned, covering his face in both horror and embarrassment. He hated being mistaken for a woman.

"No! No, I just miss her is all. I'm going to be gone and want a piece of home to take with me." only partially true. Antonio needed it because it was important to their particular mission.

"Fine." he said, "I'll get it for you." Dimas dropped some gold on the table to pay for his food before he got up, "Come on."

"Actually, I have to go procure our ride out of here before he leaves. Can you meet me in the market?" Antonio asked.

Dimas turned a glare, "I'm not your errand boy, Antonio."

"Fine, then if you can't bring us the book, you'll take us to where we have to go." Antonio nodded.

"In your dreams. You'll go without either. Now just get out of here before I get mad at you." Dimas muttered, turning to leave the pub.

"Dimas, wait!" Antonio grabbed Lovino's arm and ran after him, "Please just go get the book and bring it to me. I can't leave without it and I really would like to get out of here before our ride leaves."

"If I go get you the book, will you stop begging like a damn pup? It's like you never grew up." He muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yes~!" Antonio grinned, bouncing lightly.

"Alright, fine, I'll bring you the damn book…" he said, "but you owe me one." he pointed at him as he turned to leave.

Antonio smiled triumphantly before pulling Lovino from the pub, "There, so once he brings me that book, I can show you about the old ancient stories of old. It's the main reason I love history as much as I do. Oh, my mother could read me that book a thousand times and I'd still never tire of the stories. If our clues follow the previous one, the book might actually come in handy while you're activating the clues." he looked around, "Ah, and there's my buddy who'll take us to Golden Locks!" he grinned.

Lovino just grumbled lightly and continued by his side towards the man loading up a cart.

"Hey old friend… I need a favor to ask you…" Antonio smiled sheepishly.

The man looked up, "Gotta make it quick, Toni, I have to be in Bloomberg by morning and you know how far that is. I just hope Betty can keep up. She's getting so old." he patted his mare's side.

"Wait, Bloomberg? I thought you went to the castle this time of year…?" Bloomberg was opposite the way they needed to go.

"I usually do, but someone out there in Bloomberg is paying a lot more for my supplies than in the market out by that old castle. I go where the money goes." he said, "So about that favor?"

"Nevermind, what we needed was a ride to Golden Locks…" Antonio smiled, "But thank you anyway." he watched as his friend hopped up into the cart and drove his horse off down the road. "Now what…?" Antonio said.

"There you are." Dimas said walking up with an old leather bound book. He handed it to Antonio, "Anything else before I'm rid of you for awhile." he teased.

"Actually…" Antonio said, looking at Lovino then to Dimas, "We need a ride."

Dimas grumbled to himself. His baby brother had huge puppy eyes, near impossible to say no to. He strapped the horse up to the cart and looked over as Antonio happily shoved their supplies onto the cart. He glanced at Antonio's supposed mate. There was something off and he'd noticed it from the start, but he wasn't going to bring it up with other's able to hear what they were talking about. He knew she wasn't Antonio's mate. It just wasn't possible for Dimas to be his brother and not notice something so fishy. The 'mate' may have Antonio scent all over her, but it wasn't part of her. The other wolves might be fooled, but Dimas wasn't. If he was taking them anywhere, he was going to find out.

"We're ready." Antonio said, helping Lovino up onto the cart.

"Good. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can come back home." Dimas said, hopping up onto the bench. He grabbed up his reins and snapped them. The horses attached quickly began moving, taking the three from the town.

Dimas glanced over at Antonio and the other, "I don't know her name."

"Who?" Antonio blinked, looking over at his brother.

"Your mate." he replied, raising his brow, "The woman sitting beside you."

Antonio's face went red and he chuckled, "Oh, um… her n-name… it's… um… it's…"

Lovino stared in horror as their lie was quickly crumbling right before them. "C-Chiara!" he said, making his voice as soft and sweet as his normal baritone voice could get, "I'm Chiara."

"Uh.. huh…" Dimas said, turning his eyes to the road. An uncomfortable silence fell over them.

It was about an hour later when Dimas turned and looked at them again, "Alright, you're away from the village, tell me what the hell is going on and why you said you're mated but anyone who got a good sniff can tell you aren't."

Lovino looked at Antonio, sweat beading on his brow. Would they be forced to walk if Dimas found out about them?

Antonio licked his lips, "You noticed…? It was because I didn't want her getting hurt while we got supplies. You know how rowdy we get when there's a new person in town, especially one as juicy and succulent as this one. And as far as our travels are, it's trying to get her home. She has a wicked stepmother who went and kicked her out of the house! but she did it while they were traveling, leaving poor Chiara all on her own wandering through the woods. So i decided to be a good little wolf and help her home."

Dimas raised his brow, "That sounds like you pulled that out of every story mom ever told you."

Antonio just went silent. He trusted his brother but he didn't know how the man would react to the truth. It was hard to say and he honestly didn't want to mess around with the chances. Especially when Lovino was terribly important to their little treasure hunt. He was the key to everything and chasing him off or letting him get hurt was not only a terrible idea, it was cringeworthy for the wolf.

"Yeah. Um, I'm a guy." Lovino said before Antonio could even think of another story.


	3. Chapter 3

Dimas turned around, staring at Lovino. Lovino blushed slightly, crossing his arms and Antonio sat his eyes wide, looking between Dimas and Lovino. Silence seemed to hold time still before Dimas spoke.

"Well, alright then." He turned back to the front.

"Wait... You're not, like, upset?" Antonio asked sitting forward.

"No. What does it matter to me what you're into?" Dimas said. "A lot of people don't care. "In fact, didn't the king of the Fifth Kingdom just take a husband?"

"Yeah, but we're not-"

"I don't care about the details." Dimas cut him off. "Just as long as you're happy and you're not like eating him or something."

"I'm not, but-"

"We're not-" Lovino said his entire face flushed a deep red.

"Doesn't matter." Dimas said cutting them both off. "Because I don't care."

They sat in silence for a few hours, until the night fell. Lovino played with the strings on his vest while Antonio and Dimas talked about nothing. Lovino took note to how similar, and yet how different the brothers were. Both were much larger than the average man, but Dimas was a few inches taller than Antonio. Aside from eye color, height and hair length the two were almost impossible to tell apart.

Lovino let out a soft sigh and looked away, looking out to the landscape. He wondered briefly if his family even noticed he'd never shown up, but he shook the thought. The didn't notice. No one ever noticed if there was something wrong with him or if he wasn't even there. He rubbed his arm and looked down at his lap. He almost didn't want to even share the treasure with them simply because he didn't want to.

Dimas turned back to them in the cart "We're here." He said. "Now get out. I'm gonna grab a bite to eat and sleep and head home in the morning."

The sun was just about to set as Antonio and Lovino got off the cart. The town was small, but lively filled with shops, inns and pubs.

Antonio grabbed their stuff, "Thanks Dimas, I appreciate everything." he looked around and wondered where to go to from there. Lovino stuck close to his side, tired and just wanting to get some sleep. It had been a rather long day and he wanted out of the skirt.

Dimas walked off without another word. Lovino scanned the streets, his stomach giving a long growl. Food would be nice. Food, sleep and a change of clothes.

"I wanna go there." He said, his voice childlike as he pointed to a brightly lit pub. Antonio chuckled looking down at him, as he stubbornly leaned on his arm. Lovino looked so adorable like that...

"Yeah. We can go there." He began walking with the little human towards the pub. The inside was alive with people laughing and dancing and enjoying their food and drink to their heart's content.

Walking in, the two were met with a gleeful greeting and led to a nice quiet table by the wall. As soon as Antonio entered the pub, his stood up straighter and had to stop his tail from wagging. He smelled meat, and lots of it.

Their barmaid was a sweet middle aged woman, with plump cheeks and her hair falling in ringlets down her back, "Welcome t' our little pub, what can I get ya?" she asked, looking between them.

Lovino sat down and pulled his cloak a bit tighter around himself, "I don't care, something filling."

"I got just the thing. And you deary?" she looked at Antonio.

Antonio didn't even glance at the menu. He had gotten one whiff of the place and he was going nuts.

"Meat. Lots of big, rare meat. When I say rare, I mean let it look at the oven with fear, and bring it out to me." He said licking his lips

Lovino raised his brow, but the woman just nodded, giving him a cheery smile. She walked off with their order and disappeared behind the doors. He leaned back and ran his fingers through his hair, "I'm so tired. If the rest of the trip is like this, I might just back out and go home."

"Of course the rest of the trip is going to be like this. You didn't think it would be lying around in the lap of luxury, did you? If you knew half of what I did, you'd know that going through even one bit of what each of the great kings and queens did, it won't be some easy walk through the woods. There's towers and climbing and hiking and running around." Antonio said, his eyes darting to the door, eager for his food to come out.

"Ew." Lovino responded, making a quick change under the table, freeing himself from his skirt. "I'll just have to keep reminding myself that it'll all be worth it someday." Antonio nodded, leaning back, his eyes darting under the table.

Lovino's long smooth legs were exposed. He was too busy digging in the bag for his shorts to notice Antonio staring. He licked his lips giving a small whimper. Those long, smooth creamy legs brushed against each other, pushing together at the knees. The skin tight, and succulent.

"Get it together Antonio..."

"What?" Lovino asked, raising his brow as he looked up at the wolf. Antonio shook his head and looked away until Lovino wasn't looking again before he glanced under the table. He felt like a bad little wolf.

Lovino pulled his pants back on and sighed in relief, "Finally…" he relaxed back against the seat and looked back up at Antonio, who seemed a little less than comfortable. He just shook his head. So long as he didn't get eaten, he didn't care what the other did.

Their food was brought out to them and Antonio sighed in relief at the distraction from his thoughts on that beautiful flesh sitting in the seat across him. He immediately dug into his food, enjoying the taste on his tongue.

Lovino gagged, watching him and turned his attention to the thick stew and fresh bread. He relished in the comforting heat and smell before he began eating, filling his stomach. By the time he was done, he was even sleepier than before and ready to curl up and let his body just relax.

Antonio scarfed down his food, before laying his head on the table. He hummed happily his tail wagging on the seat next to him.

"What the hell is that?" Lovino asked reaching around to touch it. Antonio suddenly sat up.

"It's my tail. Be gentle with it..."

"Can I... pet it?" Lovino asked scooting closer to it.

"Yeah, but soflty. And with the fur please."

Lovino nodded stroking it slowly. Antonio gave a happy moan, the tail starting to wag again.

Lovino cracked a small smile, "It's so soft…" he murmured as he ran his fingers over the fur.

Antonio was practically a drooling mess as Lovino petted his tail, though his mind wandered a bit to other things and he had to distract himself once more as he dug in his bag for some gold to pay for their meal.

The young man pulled his hands away from Antonio's tail and yawned, "Sleepy…" he said, getting up. He grabbed up his bags and looked at Antonio, who did the same.

"Let's go find a cheap inn." the wolf said, leading him out of the pub.

The eventually found a place to rest, for only ten gold, but that did mean they'd have to share a room. And a bed.

"Don't worry." Antonio said as they made their way up to the room. "Just trust me, ok?"

"But..." Lovino said trailing behind. They got into the room, and the bed wasn't all that small, enough for the two of them, but Lovino still wasn't sure.

"I told you, don't worry. Just watch." And with that Antonio turned into a big fluffy wolf, jumped up into the bed, and curled into a tiny ball.

"Ohhh." Lovino said climbing in after him, resting his head on Antonio's soft fur. Antonio gave a whine but Lovino was out cold in moments.

Antonio looked at him and shifted a bit to get comfortable. He rested his head down on his large paws and closed his eyes. It wasn't long until he was fast asleep.

He awoke the next morning with a slight cramp in one of his legs from being cooped up against him where Lovino had slept. The wolf turned his head to look at the other and licked his face.

Lovino grunted and rubbed his face into his fur, "That was disgusting, damnit…" he said, sitting up. He rubbed his face and stretched before slipping out of the bed and looking around for the bathroom so he could draw a quick bath and get ready for the day. He might have to travel with that stinky wolf, but he sure as sugar didn't have to smell like one.

Antonio jumped out of the bed, turning back into a man the moment Lovino left the room. However, turning from man into wolf and back again had one major drawback: clothes. Wolves didn't need clothes, so they typically fell off in the process and were obviously on the floor and not on his person. This is something Lovino learned the hard way when he turned around and walked back into the room, having forgotten to grab something. They locked eyes and Lovino looked down then back up, both of their faces going bright red.

"Oh my go-" Lovino yelled turning right back into the bathroom

"I thought you-"

Lovino slammed the door behind him, covering his mouth his face still red and heart pounding wildly. He saw. He _saw. _Was evey thing about wolves bigger!? He shook his head, and drew his bath feeling some strange mix, of envy, shame, and definitely not lust, because he most certainly _did not enjoy that! Okay, maybe a little… but definitely not more than that! _

He licked his lips and was desperate to get that image from his head. He sank into the hot water in the tub and groaned. It was going to be hell facing that wolf now. He quickly scrubbed up and climbed out of the water. He blinked and groaned even louder. He'd forgotten his change of clothes!

There was no way he wanted to go out there in just a towel, but he also didn't want to put on his sweaty clothes from the night before. He whined softly and couldn't decide which was the lesser evil.

Antonio rubbed his cheeks and finished getting dressed. Lovino had seen him in all his naked glory… was he impressed? What did he think? Oh, it was torture trying to read the other and his reaction. Technically, it hadn't been a very good reaction, slamming doors and a- he froze.

That was groaning and whining he heard. He looked to the bathroom and bit his lip. Was he okay…? He felt terrible now. He called out to him, "I'll be right back!" he said, leaving. He had to make Lovino feel better. With breakfast or a gift or something...

He got out of the room, scratching at his head rapidly, trying to figure out what to do. He left the inn, and headed for a shop near by.

Lovino gave a sigh of relief when he heard the other leave. He got out of the bathroom, and grabbed his clothes laying them out on the bed. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't hear the door creak open. He dropped his towel, and grabbed his underwear. He was slipped them on when he heard a deep voice say

"You looked better without them." The Woodsman from yesterday stood behind him, looking even dirtier and larger than before.

Lovino went rigid and stared the man over, feeling fear grip his heart. He was going to die!

The man took a step closer to him and reached up. He ran his hand over the other's cheek, not noticing, or rather, not caring that he was trembling, tears in his eyes from the fear. He let out a shaky breath and clenched his eyes closed. The woodsman leaned forward, taking in a big whiff of Lovino's scent, his whiskery chin brushing against Lovino's.

A loud gasp rang out and the man fell to the ground with a loud thump. Antonio glared down at him, holding a broken leg of a chair in one hand, and a large teddy bear in the other "Hurry up and get dressed." he said, "We need to get out of here." He said, grabbing his bag.

Lovino let out a sigh of relief, his legs almost turning to jelly beneath him. He nodded and quickly pulled on his new clothes and grabbed up his things. The two hurried out of the inn and raced out into the streets, "We might lose him when we get out of here and reach the beanstalk! I'd forgotten he was even following us!"

"I thought you said it was a whole day's walk from here?" Lovino asked with a frown

"Well it is. But we can run there in half the time once we get far from the village." Antonio said pulling him along for a few minutes before stopping, starting to strip down. "Don't look just take my stuff and put it in my bag." He said

Lovino averted his eyes, wondering what the hell he was doing. but did as he was told, until he felt a cold nose being pressed against him. Antonio was suddenly a huge wolf, about the size of a horse. He leaned down, letting Lovino climb on his back.

Lovino licked his lips, wondering if this was even safe. He balled up his fists in the fur and closed his eyes tightly, letting out a yelp as Antonio took off into a run. He clung to him and buried his face in the fur.

This was much like riding a horse to Lovino, something he truly hated doing. The one time he had, the horse had bucked him and sent him flying to the ground. He'd been bruised up for days.

Antonio continued running. Luckily, he had a high enough stamina to keep his pace up for a long time before he truly began wearing down. He reached the end of the beanstalk territory before he finally slowed down. He panted hard and dropped to the ground to rest and let Lovino off.

The forest was huge, and full of large looming Bean Stalks. They all gave off a putrid smell, and created a low hanging green smog. Lovino nearly gagged from it as he slid off of him and trembled lightly, "Oh god, I have never been so happy to see the ground before… even if it smells gross." he looked at Antonio, "You okay…?"

The wolf just nodded and licked his chops before standing back up and shaking his body free of the dirt he'd just collected.

He gave him his bag and turned away, letting Antonio redress himself once back in human form.

"You can look." Lovino turned around and, turned his head away

"Put a shirt on." He grumbled, his eyes looking back on Antonio's toned tanned form. As much as lovino hated to admit it, the wolf was very good looking. Once fully dressed Antonio glanced around the bean stalk forrest "So which one is the one we need?"

"It'll be the biggest one in the center."

"The center?" Lovino asked, looking back out towards the forest. There was a large thick one in the distance. Clouds were thick and dark around the top of what they could see and thunder rumbled. He shuddered, "Alright, let's get this over with." he said, shifting his bag as he began walking.

Antonio followed after him a grimace on his face. The smell was something awful for his enhanced sense of smell. He just hoped things smelled better later on or at least once they were up where they needed to be to find the clue.

Lovino grumbled to himself, stepping over rotting fallen trees and thick piles of leaves. He was sweating already and feeling gross. He reminded himself over and over to just trust that the treasure would be worth it.

"How do we stop ourselves from being followed…?" Lovino asked, "I'd hate to run into him again."

"I hit him pretty hard. Hopefully, he won't come after us again. But there isn't much we can do. He's a hunter… he looks for tracks and broken twigs and it's hard to travel without those signs unless we flew. If he were a wolf, I'd say we would be safe. I don't think I'd be able to smell any prey here. I can hardly smell your delicious smell and you're right next to me.'

"I have a delicious smell?" Lovino asked looking up at him

"Yeah. It's very sweet like candy..." He said trailing off. "But I did get a good whiff of him. Once we're out of his forest and I clear my nose I'd be able to smell him pretty easily. That being said, we're very exposed at the moment. I'm just hoping the forest provides some sort of cover with the ever growing vines and beans..."

"Fun." Lovino said with a sigh. "I wonder what he wants."

"My best guess is you. He seemed more interested in you, and how you looked then anything else. Oh!" Antonio dug in his bag, for the Teddy Bear he had bought. "This is for you. As a sort of sorry for this morning." Lovino tentatively grabbed it, and smiled a bit.

"I... You didn't... Thanks." he ran his fingers over the soft fur and tucked it in his bag. It was a cute bear and a nice gesture. He appreciated it a lot.

"So what would he want with me…? I've never seen him before in my life." Lovino asked, looking over at Antonio.

Antonio shrugged, "I suppose he knew what I was and thought I was hurting you or something which is quite rude. Wolves are assumed to be the bad guys of every story…" he shrugged, "That's all I can think of."

"It just doesn't make sense." the other sighed in confusion. He shook his head, deciding not to dwell on it for too long.

After a long trek through the trees that seemed to have remained upright and the large towering stalks, they reached the biggest one of them all.

"I thought Jack cut it down?"

"He did. But this one grew back from it's remains a few years after. If you look down, you'll see the last of the original rotting away.

"Now what? Do we climb it… or…" he pressed his hand to it.

"Yep. We climb it." Antonio said pulling himself up onto it with no problem. "Well come on then."

Lovino stared at it for a moment, before grabbing a hold of a firmer vine. "Ew... It's slimey. We won't slip will we?"

"Believe it or not, it'll help us. It's sticky. Come on." Antonio leaned his hand down to Lovino, leaving it open. Lovino hesitantly grabbed it, and let Antonio pull him up.

Up they went, for what felt like hours, resting on larger vines.

Lovino avoided looking over at the down below as they climbed or rested. It was terrifying to think about falling that far down. He tried not to think about that either.

Soon enough, they broke through the thick clouds and up into a beautiful well lit area. The ground was soft, but not what Lovino had been expecting. It looked like clouds, but was firm under the wisps of mist that floated around above it. Antonio hopped right out onto the firm cloudlike ground and looked around at the huge houses that lined the cloud-like streets.

Lovino hesitantly moved out off of the stalk and let out a shaky breath, "How on earth are we going to get around!? We're tiny compared to this!"

"Don't worry, we'll figure it out. Besides, we have all the time in the world now. Giants haven't existed in a long, long time so come on. Let's find the original giant's house. It'll be easy enough to find I suppose. Probably a large one on a hill top or something like that."

"And if we can't find it?"

"We'll look through each one. Just trust me, Jack's giant was the first to live up here, the others came along afterwards. He would have a very significant house. Like that one~" he pointed to a large lone house, away from the others. It had a broken doorway where the giant had likely ripped it off in anger trying to chase the little human who had plagued him. "Plus, Jack would have gone straight for the first one he saw."

And off they went up the hill and into the house through a crack in the door.

"So what are we even looking for?" Lovino asked

"Something imperative to the story, like the golden harp that plays itself. They brought it back up here to serve as a sort of memorial to Jack, and his Giants. It should be near here. I doubt Jack ever got to explore this place until later in life when the Giants were all gone and the Beanstalk grew back.

Lovino just nodded and looked around. He felt like a flea looking up around the towering chairs and tables. It was obvious no one had been up there in a long time, considering there was dust everywhere. Lovino found a well decorated dresser and used the carved pieces to climb up on top. "Oh wow…" he looked around the room and saw it had been turned into an old museum for the people who wished to see what Jack had been through. There were old ladders and built steps in certain places to get good looks at certain things. He climbed back down and walked over to one of the ladders.

When he reached the top, he noticed the large harp, her golden fingers resting on her still strings. "Antonio, i found it!" he called down, walking over to it. He ran his fingers over the golden harp and let out a soft sigh of amazement. The harp alone would set him up for life, but he could never carry that down the beanstalk. Besides, something about it felt wrong to try and take. This was apart of their land's history.

Antonio climbed up and walked over, "Wonderful… now to activate the clue…"

"Well, what did Jack do?" Lovino asked.

"He stole it." Antonio said simply. Lovino bit his lip and tried to lift it, without much success. "What you doing?"

"Stealing it. Or trying to."

"Oh. Because when we put the shoe on the clue started. Good idea." Antonio lifted the Harp, but quickly dropped it. "Oh my that's heavy." When she hit the ground, she came to life. She plucked at her strings, and sang to them.

"_Away in the woods lay the old witch's house, _

_Lead by bread crumbs, to be eaten by a mouse._

_Sweet as honey, and fresh baked pie,_

_Go and eat, until you die._

_The start, a path, twisting and winding,_

_Only one way correct for finding._

_Beyond the path, the fall, the stone_

_Off to where that remains is bone." _

"Pleasant." Lovino said once she became silent again. "What does she mean?"

"The lost ginger bread house of Hansel and Gretel." Antonio said grimly. "It's been lost for quite a long time as well. People have searched for it, but there's been very little success." he rubbed the back of his neck, "Oh well, let's get going." he turned to head back down the ladder.

Lovino blinked, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait… what?" he ran after Antonio. "Lost? What do you mean lost? What do we do now?"

"We find it. Didn't you hear the last two lines? It told us where to start. I'm sure there's some path or something..."

"You'd better be right about this." Lovino said, climbing down the ladder, "I'm getting tired of all this "lost" that and "hidden" this." he huffed, heading towards the door.

"You should have expected it when we started this, Lovino." Antonio said as the headed for the beanstalk.

"Yeah yeah... Lets just go..." And so, down the went to the forest below

* * *

><p><em>Note from Roxi2Star and Lady-Pyrien: We are taking a holiday hiatus. In about two weeks, we'll pick up again. <em>


	4. Chapter 4

The two spent the rest of the evening climbing down the beanstalk, Lovino thoroughly **not** enjoying that. He ended up looking down on several occasions, but managed to overcome the dizziness he got from looking.

It was about three quarters the way down, they found themselves without any light, the sun setting and the night air growing cooler. Antonio sighed and found a rather large branch to settle into for the night, "Come on, we haven't much choice but to set up here. We'll likely fall in this darkness."

"Ohhh no!" Lovino said, his knuckles white from holding on tightly, "I'm not setting up this far off the ground! We'll fall to our deaths!" he shrieked.

"You're not going to fall! These vines are set up perfectly for this." Antonio said, leaning back, "just come lie beside me. It's a tight fit, but it's still safer than climbing down with no light." Lovino slowly crawled over to Antonio, desprately trying to touch him as little as possible "See, if you sit like that, you'll fall." Antonio pulled him closer, wrapping his long coat around him "Here. I'll keep you warm I'd turn into a wolf so you could cuddle on my fur, but I'd have a better chance of falling like that."

"Thanks..." Lovino mumbled, trying to make himself comfortable on the other. "Just don't let me fall."

"I won't. I promise." Antonio said softly. "Just get some rest. You'll need it." Lovino nodded, before falling into an uneasy sleep, with Antonio not far behind

Antonio awoke with a start in the middle of the night and went rigid. There was a light thudding heading up the stalk, despite the lack of light. He could tell immediately the only person crazy enough to do that. He let out a soft breath and trying to make himself and Lovino as small and hidden in the vines as possible. Sure enough, moments later, the woodsman was climbing passed them, digging his boots roughly into stalk and his hands wielding climbing tools.

Lovino shifted and Antonio slapped his hand tightly over his mouth and let out a soft hush to the waking human.

Lovino froze in confusion then fear when he heard the thunks in the large plant. He looked up at Antonio with terrified eyes. Antonio just watched closely at the man as he climbed. Once he was far enough out of sight, Antonio looked at Lovino, "We need to go now…" he whispered.

"But you said it wasn't safe!" he hissed just as quietly.

"Do you really want to be here when he discovers we aren't up there?" Antonio countered.

"There's a lot of houses up there for him to search. He doesn't know what we're after, so he wouldn't know why we were up there in the first place. I'm tired and I really don't want to fall. Maybe we'll get lucky and he will…" he muttered, laying his head back down on the wolf's chest, his eyes drooping shut.

Antonio whined softly, "I wish you had better judgement…" he looked up where he could no longer see the man in the darkness that lingered around them."Get up. Now." He pulled Lovino off him, and started to climb down, pulling Lovino with him whether he wanted to go or not.

Lovino whined and tiredly followed him down, gripping tightly to the vines. He'd been in such a good sleep, too. It took half an hour to finally reach the bottom. Antonio dropped off the last few feet and looked up, ready to catch Lovino, who was up at a considerably higher spot. "Come on, Lovino, we really don't have a lot of time."

Lovino turned to look at him and blew a raspberry. It was terribly immature, but he was terribly exhausted. He blinked, "Oh good… catch me." he let go.

Antonio's eyes widened and he caught the other, who grinned, "Good boy~" he cooed, sleepily patting Antonio's cheek. "You're downright mad when you're tired…" Antonio muttered. Lovino answered with a snore as he snuggled into Antonio's chest.

The wolf sighed in defeat and began walking briskly through the trees and beanstalks, carrying the sleeping man in his arms. It was likely better this way so Lovino couldn't do anything irrationally again.

Antonio yawned as he walked. He lost track of how long he'd been moving now, but the sun was peeking up over the horizon and he's just left the beanstalks. It was wide open now and no cover for miles in each direction. He licked his lips and looked around for the best direction to travel. It had to be wooded area so he began walking towards the trees in the distance, wanting to cover as much as he could before that woodsman discovered them walking. It would much more difficult escaping him if he actually saw which direction they were headed.

Lovino began waking up an hour later. He blinked and looked up in confusion, "The hell are you doing…?" he hissed. He looked around, "What the hell!?" he shouted, struggling to get down.

The wolf set him down, "Sorry, but you fell asleep in my arms…"

"Of course I did and I thought we were going to climb down when we woke up! Oh god! We fell and died and this is hell and I'm stuck with you!" he said, gripping his head.

"Rude… and no, you don't remember?" Antonio asked, furrowing his brow, "That's woodsman… he found us… well, our path. He climbed right passed us. I woke you up… We climbed down… you really don't remember any of that?"

Lovino crossed his arms, "No, where are we anyway?" he looked around.

"Well, we're at the edge of Gretel's Glen." he said, looking into the trees, "It's a large forest where Hansel and Gretel were rumored to have been left and where they found the cottage, but like I said, hundreds have searched for it, but there's been absolutely no luck. They've scoured everything, but it's gone. Disappeared. Hopefully, those clues will help us find it's true location."

He stretched and walked into the trees.

Lovino looked around, shivers running down his spine as he looked around. For a forest, it was actually gorgeous and well lit and birds sang, but there was something very off putting about it. He couldn't place his fingers on it as he walked alongside Antonio.

Antonio led him down winding paths and finally stumbled upon one that led through thick in accessible brush on either side. He glanced at Lovino, who nodded and the two began walking down the winding path. Antonio chewed lightly on his lip as he broke out into a clearing. The clearing was large, with a small pond of water in the center. Antonio looked back and saw the way they'd come in was marked with a large wooden woven archway with a sign hanging that read in worn letters, "Welcome to Gretel's Glen" and below that, "Enter with caution".

He turned and looked at the rest of the clearing. There were several other archways, each not marked. "Which way do we go…?" Antonio asked softly, looking down each one. They all looked similar with no clues as to which one could lead them in the right direction. There were thickly woven vines and trees keeping them from straying off any of the paths or even the clearing itself.

"This one." Lovino said, pointing down one of them. Antonio nodded and the two began walking down the pathway. Soon, they came to a small clearing with three more paths. Antonio frowned, "Which way now?" he licked his lips and looked down each path, running into the same problem. They all looked the same.

"Um…" Lovino blinked, "That one?" he said, walking down the one to the right. Antonio felt unsure and walked down the path with him. They walked the rather short distance down the path and exited into the first clearing. Lovino blinked and turned and looked up behind them at the sign that read welcome. He sputtered, "But… we just… and that… what is going on…?"

"I think it's an old magic… a trickery type to keep people away from something. The old witch might have had it in place to protect herself. It might explain one of the reason Hansel and Gretel were lost out here… that or put in place to keep people from getting to the gingerbread house again… who knows." he said, "We'll be at this all day." the wolf muttered, walking down another one of the paths.

Lovino quickly followed after him. They once again came across splits in the road, this time, two of them.

"Right…" Antonio said, heading down the right path.

"I think I'll go left…"

"We can't split up in here…" Antonio warned, looking at him, "If you found it and I didn't, I might never find you. And if I found it and you didn't, I might not be able to access the clue. We need to stick together."

Lovino frowned, "You said it yourself that we were going to be at this all day. If we split up, we'll get it done twice as fast. You can just sniff me out or something." he said, turning down the left path. He began walking.

"Stop being so stubborn!" Antonio huffed, heading down the other. He grumbled to himself, "I mean, seriously, there's also that woodsman to worry about! What if he gets Lovino while my back is turned…?" He whimpered softly as he came to another break in the trees, four paths lay before him. He licked his lips and walked down one on the left. It led him back out to the original clearing. He groaned and ran his fingers through his hair.

Lovino blinked, coming up to a path of three choices. He kept going straight and walked right up behind Antonio, "Well, that was a waste…" he said, "It's got to be some sort of puzzle. Did the clue have anything about this?"

Antonio shook his head, "Nothing…" he said, "Just that we'd have a winding path… I didn't think it meant this winding." he thought for a moment before snapping, "I know! I got it! To help them find their way home, Hansel and Gretel laid bread crumbs and stones down. Maybe we can use this to help us get through this puzzle, you know? Mark where we've been. I mean, it's not substantial, but it might actually work."

"And just where are we supposed to find this bread?" Lovino, replied, looking around.

"We'll just have to use something else, the bread fails anyway." Antonio said, pulling out his bag.

"And the woodsman? It'll lead him straight to us, Antonio."

Antonio paused, "You're right…" he looked out to the paths again, "Alright, let's just go then." he said, heading down another path.

Lovino sighed and nodded, following after him. They wound down paths three more times before they came to a round clearing with no paths branching off of it. Antonio frowned, "Lovino, write down the way we came to get here…" he said, walking around a bit, "I think it's important."

The other nodded and began writing down their path choices that got them there. Antonio wandered around a bit and licked his lips. He leaned down and brushed some leaves off the stone path. There was something carved into the stone.

"I can't read it, can you?" He asked Lovino.

Lovino blinked and wandered over. He stepped by Antonio and yelped as the stone gave out beneath them as a trap door. It swung closed and the two slid down a long tunnel, screaming.

Antonio hit the bottom first and groaned in pain. He sat up and rubbed his head, only to be knocked down by Lovino coming out of the tunnel immediately after.

They both groaned in pain, but got up. Antonio rubbed his head, "That hurt…"

Lovino blinked, "Okay, sorry, but look…" he pointed up. There before them was a long path that ended right in front of a large gingerbread house.

The house looked as sweet as it must have to Hansel and Gretel, the brown sugar walls, with the white frosting holding the home together, to the lollipops stick up from the ground, and the sugar glass windows.

"I don't believe it…" Antonio said, getting up. He dusted off his pants and began walking over towards it.

His companion was a little more wary about the situation and cautiously followed after him. As they approached the small cottage, Lovino's mouth began watering at the sight of the house, "You think that food is any good…?" he asked, walking up to it. He dipped his finger into the frosting and popped it into his mouth. He groaned in pleasure and took more.

"Lovino!" Antonio frowned, "Do you know anything? Hansel and Gretel were caught eating the house and nearly cooked!" he pulled Lovino's hand away.

"Yeah, but everyone's dead right? It's been forever."

Antonio paused and frowned, "I suppose that's right. They pushed her into the oven and ran away, so we should be in the clear…" walked into the house and looked around, "I guess it's the magic that left this place like it was back then." he said. The house was very cheery and dust free. There was hot food sitting on the table. Lovino groaned and walked over to the table. He sat down and began digging in.

"Lovino!" Antonio shouted, "You can't just…" he looked up and licked his lips. Meat pies, turkey legs, steaks, hearty meat stews and roast were all set out along the table. He licked his lips, "Well… the witch is dead." he said, sitting down. He began digging into the food. Immense pleasure washed over him. He began feeling like he was lifting into the heavens. The food was so good, he couldn't stop eating as he wavered in his seat.

Lovino, also on cloud nine as he ate, laughed in joy. He looked over at Antonio, watching the man double, triple and return to one Antonio. They moved through the house, eating all that was in front of them. Lovino laughed as he fell onto a couch, eating a bowl full of frosting. Antonio was at his side, and Lovino held up his fingers and let him lick the frosting from them.

"Mmm..." Antonio murmured, licking the sweet candy off of the other, starting to feel a bit dizzy, but he shrugged it off. He let sugar fall onto Lovino's legs, before leaning down and licking them off. Lovino giggled but made no move to stop him. Antonio gave a sort of drunken playful growl, as he continued.

They worked their way back to the table, taking turns eating off each other.

"I feel... Sooooo good Lovi." Antonio said helping himself to a plate of pasta

Lovino blinked and yawned, "Tonio… I don't… I don't…" he was unable to finish his sentence before he passed out, face first into the pasta in front of him.

Antonio looked over and grunted softly, "L'ovino…?" he slurred, leaning over to shake Lovino's shoulder. However, he toppled over against his side. A woman's laughter filled the room before Antonio went completely unconscious.

Antonio awoke with a jolt and looked around. He found himself in a damp and cold cell. His head pounded heavily and he whined, clutching at it. He sniffed around a bit and found Lovino wasn't in the room with him. On shaky legs, he stood up and stumbled over to the rusted metal bars. He wrapped his fingers around them and looked around, "Lovino…?" he called out. He didn't remember anything after seeing the cottage. What had happened?

He called out to his companion again, but with no response, he was left quite worried. He paced his cell for a while, trying to remember something, anything. However, it was of no use. He couldn't recall anything. He dug around the cell for something to help him break out when a piercing scream rang out through the entire cellar.

"Lovino!" Antonio shouted, running to the bars. "Lovino, i'm coming! I'll get out of here I promise!"

Lovino woke up strapped to a chair, unable to move at all. He looked around the room, confused. How did he even get in here, where was Antonio? So many things unanswered. He looked around the room and licked his lips, seeing a knife he could use to cut his ropes. Biting his lip, he wiggled, trying to push the chair with his bound legs, over towards the counter.

He froze and trembled in fear when the door opened behind him and shut.

"Naughty, naughty. Do you know what happens to those who break into my house and steal my goodies?"

Lovino swallowed harshly and slowly turned to looked at the woman behind her. He felt ice wash through his veins. The woman stood tall, but she was covered in scars from head to toe, her skin looking patchy and calloused from burns. Her eyes were missing and her hair long and wiry and her clothes were ragged and burned on edges.

The young man trembled and let out a shriek of pure terror. He scooted faster, trying to get to the knife to cut at the ropes. However, she was now behind him, "Trying to grab this?" she cackled, waving her hand, sending the blade across the counter.

Lovino choked out a horrified sob, "Antonio you bastard, where are you!?" he tried moving away from her, but his chair tipped over and he crashed to the floor. Then it began sliding before righting itself in front of the table. He trembled, pain now throbbing in his left arm. He looked across the table as sweets and cakes were laid out in front of him.

"Eat." the witch demanded. Lovino shook his head and sealed his lips together.

"Eat!" she said, the fork holding up some cake picking itself up and aiming towards Lovino's mouth. Lovino turned his head and tears ran down his face as he watched the witch hovering in the corner, a glare on her face. She growled, "Eat it!" she snapped.

Lovino continued to refuse. The fork dropped down and landed on the floor with a soft clatter, the bite splattering on the floor. Lovino whimpered softly and turned his head to wipe the dab of frosting on his cheek off on his shoulder.

"What the hell do you want from me!?" Lovino asked, "Where's Antonio!?"

"Eat!" she repeated, her voice crackling in rage.

"Antonio!" Lovino shouted, hoping the wolf would come running to his rescue.

She appeared before his and hissed, "He can't come for you now! Now eat!" she snapped, shoving a bite of cake into Lovino's mouth. He tried to spit it out, but the flavors melded into his tongue and he groaned softly and swallowed the bite, opening his mouth for more. The self feeding spoon shoveled bite after bite of cake and he obediently swallowed them down.

Antonio growled in anger and slammed his weight against the bars, trying to make a dent or anything that would get him through them. "I'm coming for you Lovino!" he shouted, unable to tell if the other could hear him. He whimpered in pain and rubbed his shoulder and looked around for another exit. He licked his lips and shifted into a larger wolf form before he began pawing at the stone and dirt on the ground. Using his massive paw, the pulled the stones up and began digging quickly under the bars.

He was able to make a hole big enough for his smaller wolf form to get through. He shifted and went under. He changed back into human form, throwing his pants on, and charging up the stairs. He made his way into the kitchen and charged the witch knocking her into the open oven.

"Are you alright?" He asked Lovino untying him.

"I'm fine.." He got up "Watch it!" Lovino cried as the witch's burnt hand reached out of the open flame, towards Antonio's tail. Lovino slammed the door closed, and he and Antonio held it there as she screamed and clawed at the door, until no more noise could be heard inside.

"Think she's finally dead this time…?"

Lovino said, groaning and rubbing his stomach. He was feeling sick from all that cake. He shook his head, "I don't think she was alive this time to begin with…" he muttered, "Just find the clue…" he said, looking around.

Antonio looked around and blinked, "There." he pointed to the table. He shoved the food off to the side and looked at the golden inscription appearing on the table.

"_A single rose, the petals fell,_

_A prince left to rot in his personal hell. _

_A maiden fair, beauty divine,_

_Come to his rescue just in time. _

_Twisted darkness, evils take form,_

_Snarling teeth and a broken horn."_

"So?" Lovino looked at him for the answer.

"It's Prince Adam's old castle, the Castle of the Beast. Belle was a beautiful young woman who had to learn to love his because his outside reflected who he used to be on the inside, dark, mean and selfish." he licked his lips, "It's about a two day walk from here. Let's just get to the nearest village." Antonio said, scratching at his head going to get his clothes before he stopped. "Thank you. For slamming that door. She would have gotten me if you hadn't."

"No.. I mean, you rescued me first..." Lovino said looking away a light blush dusting his cheeks. Antonio smiled over his shoulder heading back to grab his clothes. And Lovino smiled as well.

They chatted lightly as they walked to the nearest village, seeming to suddenly be much more comfortable around each other. They say that nothing bonds people like saving their life, and having yours saved in return.

"So, two brothers?" Antonio asked, the lights of the village just beyond them.

"Both of them are awful, and they're both taller then me. Which isn't fair, I'm the oldest!"

Antonio chuckled softly, "You're right, but I think you're fine the way you are~"

"You only have room to speak because you're a mountain." Lovino huffed. Antonio just shook his head and the two continued walking along the beaten path.

"If we're lucky, that man got lost on the path through those woods." Antonio said.

Lovino snorted, "If only. Look, I see the village." he pointed to a wooden gate wall just outside of the trees.

Antonio nodded and the two picked up pace as they headed towards the gates in hopes they would be let in.

They passed into the town, trying to find a place to settle in for the night, both silently agreeing, food was not the best idea. Once again, they bought a small one bedroom. Once inside Antonio was about to transform when Lovino stopped him.

"Is sleeping in wolf form uncomfortable? You seemed a little stiff last time..."

"It's not ideal, but I don't mind."

"I don't mind either.. If you wanted to stay human." Lovino said softly his face red. Antonio himself blushed a bit. "You know, if you wanted..."

"Ok." He said crawling into bed after peeling off his jacket, hat and shoes. Lovino slipped his cloak off, and with a large blush let his shorts fall down, leaving him in his over sized shirt. Antonio had to stop himself from panting at the sight.

"Wh-what? It's hot... You don't have to sleep in all your clothes either..."

Antonio nodded dumbly, stripping his shirt off, letting Lovino crawl in next to him. They laid close to each other, skin brushing skin, heart rates elevated... Antonio could hardly stand it until he heard soft snores coming from the other.

He licked his lips and let out a soft breath, closing his eyes to force himself to just go to sleep no matter how enticing Lovino was being at the moment. Antonio honestly didn't want to spoil their solidarity with something like that. It took him only a few minutes to fall asleep.

When morning came, both were a bit too lethargic to crawl out of bed immediately. Lovino found himself resting against Antonio's chest but he didn't mind much. He liked the sound of the other's faster heart rate. He was also quite warm. He smiled warmly to himself and closed his still sleepy eyes while Antonio gingerly dragged his finger tips over Lovino's back.

The magic was still wearing off on them from the witch's house.

Antonio grunted softly and shifted to his side, "We have to get up now. I want to be lazy and lie around, but he'll catch up to us…" he yawned, sliding out of the bed, much to Lovino's chagrin.

Lovino whined and nodded. It took him a few more minutes to force himself out of the bed and begin getting dressed. The air was only slightly awkward, as they redressed and packed up.

"I wanna hit the market real quick for some food. We won't reach the next village til nightfall, and we'll need lunch later." Antonio said fixing his hat.

They hit the market buying some fruit, Antonio claiming he could catch something later. They left the town, and walked along the path idly chatting to each other.

The next few days went on like this, until they came upon the dark castle in the distance, a grey cloud hanging over it.

"There it is. Beast's Castle."


	5. Chapter 5

"Beast's castle. Said to hold a curse to ward off looters." Antonio said with a sigh. "They say it shows you demons and monsters."

"Great… curses, that's all we need." Lovino said. He was exhausted from walking so much, "Think maybe we'd be able to get some sleep in there? I'm tired of sleeping on the ground."

"Maybe, but I'd like to get in and get out as soon as possible. Something about this place is just unsettling." he said as they wandered through the over grown gardens in front of the large dark castle. There were thick brambles and vines of thorns everywhere. Multiple colored roses laid across the bushes, long since forgotten.

Lovino shuddered lightly, "This place is creepy…" he felt like he was being watched despite nothing having lived in this castle in centuries. They walked through the gates, unaware of the rose upstairs in the Beast's old room beginning to wilt, counting down how long they had to solve this riddle.

Antonio pushed open the large doors and stepped inside the castle, just as thunder began rumbling outside. Lovino licked his lips, "This place is huge… how are we going to find out how to solve the clue?"

"I really don't know…" Antonio said closing the door behind him. "So we need to stick together. Who knows what's in this castle... Lovino?" Antonio asked looking around. Lovino had already gone. "Dammit."

Lovino had gotten distracted by an old painting down the hall, and out of sight of Antonio. The man, who Lovino assumed to Prince Adam sort of resembled Antonio. Lovino wondered if Antonio were to search his family history, if they would find that he was related to him. His attention was then directed to a large door with all sort of decorative markings on it. He pushed the door open, the only thing inside was a mirror lit by a dark flame.

Lovino walked up to it, looking into it. Looking back was him, except he was more handsome, taller and wiser. Lovino's jaw more defined and lovely his eyes a lighter shade of gold. He smiled striking a pose and flashing a smile, which came back perfect and pearly white.

But the image changed,

And Lovino screamed.

Looking back at him now was a Lovino with a puffy face, who's skin was discolored. He was hunched over and drooling.

_Ugly._

The word flashed into Lovino's head, and he looked down at his hands, just as discolored, and puffy as those in the mirror.

_Ugly, ugly boy. _

Lovino screamed again.

Antonio jumped, "Lovino…?" he heard the screams echoing throughout the castle and tensed, wondering what he found. He tried to run from the room, but was caught when the door slammed shut. He licked his lips and turned around, the curtains in the room pulling open to reveal a stained glass window. A woman was in the glass, holding a rose. Her image shifting from an old haggard woman to the beautiful enchantress.

Antonio gently touched the colored glass and licked his lips.

"_You are a monster, aren't you?" _A strange disembodied voice echoed around him. He looked around, his heart pounding. He hated being called that.

"_Scary monster who frightens everyone away with his big sharp teeth." _

Antonio licked his lips in nervousness and backed away from the stained glass, her blackened crystalline eyes staring deep into his very being. He felt pain erupt through his body and he let out a terrifying howl as his own form changed to the monster within, though a mix of the two. A long dripping snout, coarse fur and blackened claws. His clothing torn and dirty. He grunted sitting up and looked down at his massive paws and let out a howl of desperation. He got up and ripped the door off the hinges and ran into the halls. He raced to find a mirror of some sort. When he found one hanging in the hall, he saw what he looked like. He was hideous and terrifying, but very wolflike in his features.

He ran his paws over his snout and let out a howl of sorrow. Lovino would be frightened when he saw him.

Lovino backed away from the mirror, feeling his face. He felt the puffs, the sludge and oil. He felt the boils, and swollen cheeks. He got up and shuffled into the halls to find Antonio and see if he could figure out what was going on.

He wandered through the dark halls, unable to find Antonio at all. Lovino whimpered softly in complete fear. He hoped Antonio would know how to fix this.

Lovino stopped in a hall, frozen again in fear. Before him was a large beastly creature very reminiscent of a wolf. He trembled as it locked directly at him and growled unintelligibly. Lovino turned and took off, running in the other direction though the loud thumping down the halls was a good indicator it was following after him.

He turned the corner and ran through the halls, turning and heading towards a distance door on the east side of the castle. He slammed through the door, closing it behind him. Lovino stood in the dark room, a low light from the other side illuminating the soft room before him. It looked as if time had never touched it. It seemed to be a bedroom, most likely a woman's from the look of the jewelry strewn on the dresser, and an old dress draped on the bed.

Lovino sat on the bed, looking up at the mirror before giving a weak cry. He was hideous. Lovino had never really thought he was all that handsome, being the least attractive of his brothers. But this? It was terrible. He was terrible.

That.. thing. What the hell was it? Antonio had no idea, other then some sort of creature that made the ruins it's home. It was a sickly green, and puffy, and made some sort of distorted scream. Antonio crawled along to the West side of the castle, his tail between his legs.

_I probably scared the little thing. _Antonio thought. _Look at me, I'm a monster. _He found an old room at the end of the castle. It was an old bed room, that had been torn apart. _Most likely the Prince's room. _He turned to the only light in the room, a single rose suspended in a glass container. A single petal wilted off the rose, falling to the bottom and turned brown. _That's funny… _Antonio thought, approaching the rose, _I thought it was already wilted away with the prince and his beauty… _

Gold lettering wrote across the glass, reading

_Three days from set to rise,_

_To learn and to love or face demise. _

_See the worst in them, and the best in you,_

_Learn to love your monsters, it's best if you do_

"Shit..." He whimpered. That wasn't historic, or anything... A test? "The Prince did have to learn to love, and be loved in return... Is that what this is?" Antonio scratched at an itch on his wolfy face. "Dammit... Alright, lets break that down. Three days, a time limit. Learn and love... Them, so two people... Me and Lovino obviously alright but... Ok. Ok. Wait, that thing..." He remembered the green puffy creature. "That couldn't..." He looked down at himself. The castle had transformed him, why not Lovino? "Oh..."

Antonio suddenly left the room, charging down the hallway. He had to find Lovino.

Lovino eventually found the courage to leave his safe haven, if only to find Antonio. He slowly made his way until he found an old hidden library full to the brim with books. His eyes widened as he slowly stroked the spine of an old book at eye level. He couldn't make out the title on the spine, so he pulled it out.

"Grimm Brother's fairy tales." Lovino read aloud. He opened the book and read in messy english,

_Dear Adam,_

_Here's the book just like the promise. Remember the forever happiness comes to the one who has the best belief in it. May this stories be forever your tutor in this. _

_~Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm. _

Lovino turned the page, and read down the list of what he guessed where the name of the tales, his eyes drawn to Beauty and the beast which was circled. He turned to the page, and started to read. He read how heartless the beast was to Belle and her father. He read and looked at the small pictures of her beauty. He wished he was good looking. He walked as he read sitting himself in a window seat, reading the story, a warm feeling growing inside him as Belle and Beast fell in love.

And Lovino smiled.

He wanted to be that beautiful. Maybe then, his father would be prouder to show off his eldest son and not just the younger ones. He looked over to see his reflection in the window. The beast's outside reflected the anger and hatred he felt inside, so… did that mean this is what all of his own feelings reflected? It had to be. That's the only thing that made sense. He sighed softly and looked back down at the book, or rather, his disgusting fingers that held the book. If this is what he was on the inside, he didn't want it anymore. He wanted to feel better about himself.

Lovino rubbed his thumb over the pages and smiled softly. Things could always be worse and he was… he was a good looking man. He could have warts and pustules and gross skin, but he didn't. He had nice hair and a damn good smile, too. And he would find love in his own time, a person who wouldn't care about his appearance anyway. So what if he wasn't perfect like Feliciano or handsome like Marcello. He was great, too!

"Lovino?" Antonio asked, startling Lovino. Antonio stood in the doorway, watching him.

"Antonio..." Lovino said hiding his face in his book.

"Don't hide from me... Please." He added. Lovino slowly pulled his face from the book, looking Antonio in the eye, hardly flinching. "Yeah... I know."

"Antonio, what... I don't care." Lovino said putting the book suddenly. "I don't care. About any of this. I mean, I care about this." He said pointing to the book. "I care about you, and what we started. But not... This, or that." He said pointing to his face, then to Antonio's claws. "Because, it doesn't matter, does it?"

"What doesn't?" Antonio asked.

"The outside. You look like a monster, but you've been anything but that to me. I look awful, but I know that I'm an okay person. I've never hurt anyone. And if Adam could accept himself and open his heart up to love..." Lovino took Antonio's paw in his own hand, looking him in the eye. "Then so can I."

"Lovino..." Antonio said softly, tears pricking his eyes. "Thank you." He pulled the other in for an embrace, and then they began to glow.

The bookshelves moved aside revealing a mirror, but this one was lovely, the sides covered in paintings that told the story of Beauty and the Beast. The looked at it, and this time they saw beauty in themselves and each other. Lovino's soft legs, and even softer lips and his golden eyes hiding under shiny auburn hair. Antonio standing tall and proud his goofy white smile on his face, his messy hair tousled perfectly and his eyes shining like emeralds.

They both smiled, knowing the curse had been lifted.

Gold writing wrote across the glass of the mirror,

_Glass like this, _

_Where she had her kiss,_

_A single red apple laid her to rest,_

_This is the next part of your test, _

_Hair black as coal tied in a red bow, _

_And her flawless skin was white as snow. _

"Well." Antonio said with a sigh turning to Lovino, holding his hand "Ready to go again?"

"Just as long as this is the worst of it." Lovino grumbled, blushing but keeping his hand still. "But I suppose I can do it with you."

"I can't guarantee it'll be the worst, but whatever they throw at us, we can handle." Antonio spoke as he led Lovino from the strange castle.

Lovino rubbed his face, "I never thought I'd say this, but I am fucking gorgeous." he whined softly, enjoying the silky smooth skin.

Antonio chuckled, "I could have said it for you~" he smiled.

Lovino huffed and looked away, though a soft smile crept on his face. He had to admit, too, that Antonio was much better looking in his silly little newsboy hat that fur and claws.

He stretched his hands above him and looked back at the castle, "It's… beautiful. I wish we could stay longer, but I'm not wanting to risk that curse again."

"Neither do I. We really should hurry and find a safe place to stay. Something to eat, as well."

Lovino nodded and the two left the curse behind them, though not the lesson it taught.


	6. Chapter 6

"I dunno." Lovino said looking down at his reflection in the water. "I think I'm better looking now." Antonio chuckled. Lovino looked up at him and flashed him a cheeky grin. "Dont you think so~? My body is nice and supple~"

Antonio blushed slightly "I've always thought you were very creamy."

"And oh.." Lovino trailed up suddenly getting closer to Antonio "What else did you call me... Succulent?" Lovino took Antonio's hand placing it on his hip. "Do you still think I'm..." He whispers "Succulent?"

"Yes." Antonio said softly, leaning in dangerously close to Lovino. "I used to think you were some delightfully creamy brat.. But lately I've..." Antonio stopped.

"You've...?" Antonio suddenly pulled Lovino to his chest, covering his mouth with his hand, ducking down. Voices traveled loudly as if walking by a near path.

"So I told old man Jim that he only had enough for two sheep, and you know what he tells me?" One man said

"Probably something about a baaaad economy." A second said before he cried out "ow! Hey that was a great pun."

"Idiot. No he tells me that he was on some official business from the Queen herself about getting lamb for some fancy party she's gonna throw." The first says.

"Another party? Is that what she's spending our tax money on? Parties?"

"Not to mention the forced labor, the eviction of people from their land and the allowing of Troll armed forces into the upper West part of the country not far from the Bean Stalk forrest."

"I didn't know bout that." A third voice said

"Oh yeah. Something about their dogs picking up some of our Kingdom's scent. Bet you some stupid idiot didn't know they signed the forest over months ago in some treaty." The voices started to fade.

"Lets just get back to town. Mr. Peep's pup is probably packed by now." The voices faded.

"What was that for?" Lovino asked after being put down. "They were just people."

"Hunters. Lovino, you forget, I'm a wolf. Hunters kill me." Antonio said disappointed in having to ruin the mood. "But that's not the important part. Lovino I think we might have started a small war..."

"That stuff about the Bean Stalk forrest?" Lovino asked "Yeah... I thought we controlled it?"

"Guess not." Antonio said with a sigh. "We can worry about it after we find this treasure. It's supposed to give you enough wealth and power to run a kingdom. Maybe we can fix it?"

"Maybe..." Lovino said with a sigh. "Can you follow those men's tracks? They aren't far from their home and I could use a good meal."

"Yeah, one of them had a really nice smell. Kinda like... Sheep~"

Antonio followed his nose to the village. It wasn't far out of the forest., and was nestled nicely on the field of green before them. Antonio gave a small whimper of pain and stopped.

"What is it?" Lovino asked stopping next to him.

"Cramps..." Antonio whimpered. But he stood up straight suddenly taking in a big whiff. "Ooooh. Sheep~ Lovino." He turned to him, "We can't stay here."

"Why not? I'm hungry."

"It's a sheep herding village. I'm a wolf, there is nothing good that could possible come out of this." Antonio shook his head. "Besides... the full moon is in three days. I kept track, I thought maybe it fell while we were in the Castle yesterday but we were only there for the night... I'm just having some early symptoms."

"Symptoms?" Lovino asked, though he started moving again into the small happy village.

"Yes! Symptoms, and they get worse as the days go. Please, can we just keep going through here?"

"No, Antonio. I'm starving, I'm tired, I want to rest."

"Fine... but we leave first thing in the morning." Antonio whimpered. He was exceedingly nervous about this entire thing. He followed Lovino into the village and looked around at the people walking passed, groaning softly at the sight of sheep and various other animals that were driving him insane.

They stepped into another pub and a rich smell hung in the air. It was a mix of roasted food and vegetables and tobacco from pipes elder men smoked as they told stories.

Lovino walked over to a table and sat down. Antonio sat down and shifted nervously. He scratched at his ear, giving soft whimpers. He was hungry. Not the type of hungary where he wanted to just eat, no no. He wanted _meat. Juicy, tender, raw __**meat. **_

"Stop twitching." Lovino complained. "It's annoying."

"I can't help it... I don't even know what's wrong with me...When I'm close to sheep I'm normally ok... Even this close to the full moon. It's not until the day of I get like this... Maybe the castle screwed me up? I was so disoriented the whole time..."

"Yeah." Lovino nodded "I know what you mean. I felt like I was moving so slowly... Just relax. You're just freaked out." He sighed and blushed. "Dont look at the sheep. Just look at me." Antonio nodded and stared as Lovino pulled down his shirt a bit, exposing his soft pale skin to Antonio. He leaned in, licking his lips.

"What can I get you loves?" a woman asked, standing before them with a bright smile.

"Huh?" Antonio asked dumbly before snapping out of it. "Oh! Right... I... Something meaty. Sheep."

"Oh yes! Got a lamb meat pie that'll knock your socks off! And for you dear?"

"Hmm... Surprise me."

"Right! Coming right up! By the way, you two seem like a lovely pair! You should join the town in our festival tonight! It's the harvest season, and tonight's the full moon, the lovers night!" And she left

"Oh no." Antonio whimpered, looking down. "Oh no." he'd been wrong, it was tonight!

"Calm down... So, it's the full moon. We'll just get you out of here and hide you in the woods, or..."

But before Lovino could finish the door to the pub burst open, and a man stood in the doorway, covered in pelts, bows and crossbows, knives and other hunter gear strapped to him.

"Just got word." He said his voice filling the pub. "A wolf is in the area."

"A wolf?" A woman cried. "They never come this far south!"

"Yes. I know. A friend of mine sent me a letter about a wolf. Abducted his fiance. He's been tracking them for a few weeks. He reckons the wolf is trying to seduce his fiance into mating. But, last he saw they were heading this way. And tonight being a full moon we can hunt it down faster. It'll lose control. Hunters, I ask you, as a favor for my son, may his soul rest in peace, that you skip the festival tonight, and we find this wolf before anyone else ends up like Jimmy."

"I'll help!" A voice called. And the several others agreed. The men stood.

"On we go!" The man cried and they left the pub cheering.

"Fuck." Lovino said turning back to Antonio. "Toni. Don't panic. We got this. Just... You won't get like... Really crazy until nightfall right?" He nods whimpering. "Ok. So, what happens?"

"I.. I turn into a giant wolf. Well, first I get all... Crazy and anxious, then angry, then hungry... Then poof, I'm a giant wolf eating everything in sight."

"Ok. Ok. Right. Right. Then... We'll ask for a room in the barn. When they ask why, we'll… we'll tell them that we want to keep an eye out for the animals or something. I don't really know, but I'll think of something."

Antonio nodded and bounced his leg, eyes darting from side to side. He was torn between keeping Lovino with him at all times and having him leave him alone for the fear of tearing apart his friend was too much to bear. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he were to get Lovino hurt.

Lovino smiled weakly at the woman who brought out their food, "Sorry 'bout that. Try and relax. Those are some of the finest men you could ever hope to protect you. No wolf is getting anyone tonight. Enjoy your meals, okay? I can find somewhere safe for you to sleep."

"Actually, speaking of, think we could get a barn to sleep in… with a loft. Not that we don't trust your men will keep us safe, it's just, if we pull the ladder up, the loft will keep us safe, y'know? I, uh, have an intense fear of wolves…" Lovino lied.

Antonio pouted lightly and whined, earning a kick to the shin.

"Why, sure!" she smiled, "I know the perfect place. I'll write down directions on how to get there. It's on the edge of town, but it's the only barn with a loft. Wolf won't get you there."

"Thank you so much. I don't know how we could ever repay you for such kindness~" Lovino smiled at her, laying on his grateful attitude.

She blushed and smiled, "You're absolutely welcome~. Now eat up before it gets cold~" she said, sauntering off, cheeks still red.

"You were flirting with her!" Antonio growled softly, "You never smile at me like that."

Lovino snorted and picked up his fork, "I was flirting to get what we wanting. She's gorgeous but the ring on her finger says she's not my type." he said, taking a bite of his food. He groaned in delight. The flavors popped and was perfectly seasoned. It all tasted fresh and Lovino knew this was the best food he'd ever eaten in his life.

Antonio huffed, only stopping when the intense hunger reminded him exactly what was going on. "You're going to have to tie me to a pillar or something… I don't want to risk hurting you." he mumbled through the food that now stuffed his mouth.

The young man looked up and raised his brow, "What…? Why…? You're not going to hurt me. I trust you."

"Yeah, but I don't trust me!" Antonio said through another bite.

"Fine, I'll tie you to something, alright…?" he looked up at the horizon and sighed, "We should hurry and get to that barn then. Hope no one comes to check on us." He wiped his mouth just as the woman came back over with directions to the barn.

"No one owns it anymore, so you don't have to bother with asking. Just come back here if you need anything~" she smiled.

Lovino smiled back, "Why thank you~" he said, taking the paper. "The food was delicious, but I'm afraid we should get going to that barn and get some sleep. Early morning ahead of us."

"Come back soon!" She called after them as Lovino tugged the antsy wolf through the door.

"Come on." Lovino whispered, quickly pulling Antonio down the cobblestone and dirt streets. Finally, the two came to the barn and pushed the old door open. Lovino yelped in fear when some wild chickens threw up a hissy fit when they came in. He kicked one away so he could shut the door, "How are you feeling, Toni?"

Antonio just groaned, drool dribbling down his chin as he stared hungrily at the chickens.

Lovino rolled his eyes, shutting the barn door."Let's get you comfortable and tied up then, okay?" he tugged Antonio over to a strong support beam, off to one side of the barn and had him sit down, leaning him back on the post. "Let's hope this continues to hold when you're a wolf.." he hummed, wrapping the ropes around him.

Antonio groaned, "Tighter..." the full moon was showing as the rest of the daylight faded. His pupils dilated and he curled his toes.

Looking up, Lovino began to notice the changes to Antonio's features. His tanned skin becoming pallid, his eyes… "Wow… what big eyes you have…" he said softly.

"Makes it easier to see." He growled.

The wolf looked at him and growled, but not aggressively. His human like teeth were now sharpened like those of any meat eater.

He felt his stomach twisting in fear and excitement, "And those teeth… so sharp…" He tied the knot securely and sat back against the straw.

"Better to eat you with." he growled, his voice deeper and scratchy.

Watching in morbid curiosity as Antonio cried out in pain, jerking from side to side, his bones cracking as his body changed shape. His shirt became taut against his bulging chest and arms until it ripped to shreds. Dark brown fur grew out over his skin and where his mouth and nose were, became a snarling snout. Antonio growled and fought against the ropes, his eyes wild. Where his arms were, there were now large paws, easily the size of Lovino's head.

"I should have waited to t-tie you…" Lovino whimpered, the rope tightly holding against the now struggling massive wolf. Lovino darted forward to help loosen the rope enough to not injure him, but also still hold him tightly.

Unfortunately, Antonio yanked free and growled, darting passed Lovino, attacking one of the chickens. He sank his fangs into the struggling creature and shook his head, killing the poor thing.

Lovino covered his mouth and looked away as Antonio ate the few chickens in there. He heard the paws padding across the barn floor and turned to look at Antonio, feathers stuck to his chin with blood. Lovino felt queasy again and gagged, "Dear god…"

Antonio was still hungry, burning with hunger. He smelled the human before him, but with the scent, it wasn't associated with food. Oh no, he smelled something different with the human. Mixed scent of fear hung on the human like a musk and Antonio felt bad. He's not often felt any sort of guilt in this form, his mind not entirely human at all, but he felt it. He nudged against the human before him, smearing a bit of chicken blood onto his shoulder.

The human turned to look at him and smiled. He said something in a soft, comforting tone and while he couldn't understand it, he somehow knew that those words meant he was still accepted, even like this. He ignored his hunger for the moment and lied down, curled around the precious human. He didn't budge when the human ran his fingers through his thick wiry coat, nor did he bother to move, feeling him slip the rope around his neck and paws to retie him up and to the beam.

Lovino trembled, his hands shaky. Antonio was tied up again, front paws up to his chest to inhibit mobility and to the beam to keep him from going anywhere. Despite the fear of being close to something so big, merciless and hungry, he curled up to Antonio, after making sure everything was locked up tight, and ran his fingers through his fur to keep him calm. He was tired, but he had to stay up and watch Antonio closely. The last thing he wanted was to see some man walk away, Antonio pelt in his collection.

He sang softly, his mother's lullaby to pass the time and told Antonio stories, not even sure if the other could even understand him. But he kept going, talking away, his stomach twisting every time he heard the shouting of men in the not so distant forests. He would clamp his arms around Antonio's maw when the other would open his eyes and start growling. 'Hush, Toni, you'll get us killed!' he'd hiss along with it sternly, which seemed to work well enough.

Lovino took an hour to have what could be summed up as a staring contest with the other. He memorized the colors in Antonio's eyes, dimly lit by the glow of a kerosene lamp. He even took the time to notice how void of humanity they were. Antonio was a pure and vicious animal. He wondered how he was even still alive. Lovino wondered if Antonio was in there still commanding his body to do what he said, or if there was only vague memories.

After a few hours, Lovino noticed his shirt reeking of dead poultry. He pulled it off and used it to clean Antonio's jaws. He tossed it away and sighed, "I liked that shirt, too." he muttered.

Antonio stared at the exposed flesh which his desire was to taste. However, not in the sense he was going to eat the human, but rather… he flicked his large broad tongue over the unsuspecting human's back. This also wasn't what the human part of Antonio wanted, but it was close enough.

Lovino shuddered and made a face, "Gross!" he hissed, "That's disgusting!" he whined and leaned back against Antonio's side and began rubbing the slobber off of him and onto Antonio.

Humans were so weird, Antonio found himself musing, just watching this strange human ritual. Was this an attempt to mark territory? Did Antonio belong to the other? He supposed this is what it meant and accepted it. He rolled onto his back, relinquishing dominance to Lovino. He picked his head up and licked Lovino's face.

Lovino froze and made another face, "You are disgusting!" he whined rubbing at his face, "Your breath stinks!"

Antonio just wiggled. He perked up and growled lightly, hearing mice scurrying about.

The young man darted forward to shut him up again. He looked around, "I know you're hungry, but you can wait!"

Antonio looked at him, pupils narrowing slightly. He was starving. He knew he shouldn't eat the human, but if the human was the dominant one, there why hadn't he hunted for him or something? Or let him hunt for that matter? He didn't understand the words, but was the human punishing him for something? He began thinking that it wouldn't be so bad to just… eat the human. He growled lightly and rolled back onto his belly to inch closer to Lovino.

Lovino gasped and stumbled back. What was with the sudden mood change? "A-Antonio…?"

Antonio growled more and snapped at Lovino.

The man gasped and fell backwards, hitting his head against the hard dirt floor. He hissed and quickly jumped up, "Shit… Toni…?" he whimpered, the wolf used his still free back legs to lunge for Lovino. The rope caught him and he jerked to the side, front paws tightening to his chest.

Lovino trembled and grabbed his bag and lamp and quickly scaled up the ladder and onto the loft. He stared down at Antonio, who growled angrily and and snapped his jaws. With his heart racing wildly, Lovino leaned back and rubbed his head. He felt like sobbing from both fear and the feeling of rejection. He was doing so well with Antonio, so what changed? He wanted to just sleep, but even still, He'd promised everything was going to be okay.

Despite his heavy heart, Lovino sat on the edge of the loft and watched Antonio until morning, when he dozed off and flopped back against the straw, legs dangling from the higher up area.

Antonio gave up trying to get him or escape and lied down in misery and hunger. He closed his eyes and let sleep take him as well. He knew the human side of him would take care of their hunger in the morning.


	7. Chapter 7

Antonio woke up feeling sore. He sat up, and stopped, a pain throbbing in his head. He looked down, and sighed still tied to the wall.

"Hey..." Lovino said from the loft. Antonio looked up and gave a soft smile. "You...You ok?"

"I'm sore... And really hungry. Guess this worked?"

"Kinda. For the most part you behaved, but towards the end of the night you tried to attack me." Lovino said climbing down.

"Sorry. You know I didn't mean it."

"Yeah. I know." Lovino pulled a small knife out of his bag, and cut the rope that tied Antonio, and tossed him some pants.

"Thanks." He quickly put them on, and felt his face. "Blood. What happened?"

"You... You broke free and ate a chicken. Nothing else though."

He nodded. "I need some water... Can you get me some? I'll... I'll try to clean up a bit..."

"Yeah. I'll be right back." Lovino said leaving the barn.

A few minutes later he returned with a bucket of water, and a plate of food.

"So that woman, I mentioned you were feeling under the weather. She was very concerned, and

insisted I take you a plate of food." Lovino said with a soft smile coming back into the barn.

"Oh thank god." Antonio said sitting up. It looked like he had cleaned up the chicken, but the blood still stained the floor. "I ate a little bit more of it in wolf form then buried it out back. No one saw, and if they did I just looked like a little dog." He took the plate and began wolfing the food down.

Lovino nodded, "Alright." he sat on the floor and watched Antonio eat. "So. We really didn't get much time to talk. What did the clue mean? And how do you think you lost track of the days?"

"I think." He chewed his mouthful of food and swallowed. "That the castle's curse might have slowed us a bit? Made us confused, and sped up time or something. Because I knew the date when we went in, and that's the last I checked. As for the clue I thought you would have known."

"Well. I don't."

"Snow White. The greatest Queen in our History. The change into the next era, the bringer of happy endings, the tale that inspired generations of heroes. The woman who came back from the dead."

"Oh." Lovino said softly. "Right, I uh... I had forgotten..." In truth ovino was never one for history, and while he knew who Snow White was, he could not tell you anything about her. "Right, so what did the clue mean?"

"Her glass coffin. The one she was woken up in by her Prince."

"Don't tell me that's lost too." Lovino said with a sigh.

"Nope. It's a tourist trap." Antonio said with a grin. "Real honeymoon hot spot."

"You're kidding."

"Nope, also a great place to gamble. I've only been once. I have a buddy who went out there about a year back, and I went to visit him. He started a bakery there and has been doing really well."

"Oh. Is he a wolf as well?"

"Nah. I knew him when he was under a curse. Some nasty Warlock turned him into a frog because he insulted his cooking. Three years down the line they fall in love, the Warlock kisses him and they move to Glass Casket and set up a popular bakery and the rest is history." Antonio picked up his plate and licked it clean.

"You've got it all over your face." Lovino chuckled dipping a rag in the water, and leaning over to clean the juice (and dried blood) off his face. "Seriously, what am I going to do with you?"

Antonio grabbed Lovino by the wrist pulling him closer, looking him in the eyes. Lovino froze, but didn't flinch. He pondered how Antonio's eyes looked the same in human form, but.. yet so different. These eyes were kind, and loving, and warm. The kind of eyes you could stare into forever and never look away.

"Did I scare you last night? More importantly did I hurt you?"

"No. Well, you scared me a little but... Nothing I can't handle. Nothing I don't mind handling. Antonio I told you at the castle. I don't care about that. I care about you." Lovino's face suddenly lit up red. "Even if... You're a stupid lamp muffin who sheds."

"That didn't make any sense." Antonio chuckled, pulling Lovino into a gentle hug. "But I'm glad. Because... I care about you too. And I don't want to hurt your scare you."

"Asshole..." Lovino mumbled, but held onto him tightly.

They left town when no one was paying attention. Most of the townsfolk were in the center of town, crowded together. Antonio and Lovino had heard bits of conversations. Apparently the man who warned them of a wolf had arrived.

"You think they caught the wolf?" Antonio asked softly, once they left the edge of town.

"No. I'm standing right next to it." Lovino said, before hitting his arm softly. "For a history nerd you're really dumb."

"I'm not the wolf they were talking about. The wolf their chasing is with a woman. Probably what happened is they fell in love but she was already engaged, so they ran off together and some high and mighty hunter thinks he kidnapped her." Antonio told the other

"It could be a guy." Lovino reminded him.

"True, it could be, but you aren't engaged."

"Right..."

"So I'm just hoping that other wolf is ok. And that he and his love get a happily ever after. Though no one truly has in years."

"I'm sure he is." Lovino said patting his arm. "They would have been cheering if they caught him."

"Yeah. That's true. Unfortunately."

The walk to Glass Casket was a short, and uneventful one. They walked through the trees before coming across a lovely town just on the edge of the forest. The town had a beautiful archway with swirls and hearts decorating it.

"Welcome to Glass Casket. Where everyone falls in love." Antonio said softly. "They say, that the town is magic and when two people who love each other come here together, they fall in love all over again."

Lovino blushed, and pouted. "Is it like.. A love spell? Makes people fall in love?"

"No, nothing like that. It's like... You can't grow a tree if there aren't any seeds in the soil." Antonio told him "Now come on. You need to see the rest of the place." He took Lovino by the hand, and pulled him under the gate.

Lovino's heart began to pump loudly in his chest. Why.. why did he feel like this? So good, and yet so bad. His cheeks heated up, and he felt a little sick. But When Antonio tuned back and smiled at him he couldn't help but smile back.

The town was beautiful and huge. The buildings were made of bricks in deep hues of red. Their seemed to be beautiful stained glass windows everywhere. The smell of cinnamon and rose hung in the air, the afternoon air warm, with a romantic breeze that made Antonio's hair dance.

Antonio turned around and slowed taking Lovino's other hand in his free one. They were stopped in front of a large building, with a closed sign hanging on the door. The building was one of the more beautiful. "Francis, my friend's shop isn't far from here. He might be able to get us a nice dinner somewhere."

"Dinner? Like a nice sit down place?" Lovino blushed. "Like... A date?"

"Sure." Antonio said a soft dust of red.

"We're broke. And dirty."

"Oui, that you are young lovers!" A voice called from above. They looked up and a very beautiful young man, with wavy blonde hair tied in a low hanging pony hung out of a window. "But you only need a fairy god sexy man, much like me, to provide you with what you need!"

"Francis!" Antonio called with a wave "It's good to see you!"

"And I you, mon ami! Please, come in! This is my shop."

"It's huge! I didn't even recognize it!"

"That is because it is new! My Bakery has been so successful I moved!" He said before leaving the window. Moments later the door opened and Francis stood with a grin. "Now in, both of you!"

"It's amazing." Antonio said soaking up the sights. It was pastel colors and smelled so sweet it made their taste buds wet.

"I know~ Now friend, come here and hug me!" Antonio grinned and pulled his friend in for a hug. "I missed you Antonie."

"I missed you too Fran." Antonio said pulling back and turning to Lovino. "This is my friend Lovino."

"Friend~? Not by what I just saw~" Francis said "He's very cute." He cut off any argument either tried to make about not being together. "Clothes and money is what you need. And a shower you smell like a dog."

"I can't take your money Fran." Antonio said with a soft smile.

"We will take you up on those showers though." Lovino said.

"Nonsense! Antonie, you spent three years taking care of me. You were my friend when no one else would be. You, and I am certain of this, saved my life. I do not think I would have wanted to live if I hadn't had you in my life. I owe you, everything I have."

"Come on, not this speech again..." Antonio said his cheeks flushing in embarrassment. "I didn't do anything special but help a friend."

"Then so am I. I will have a reservation at Blanc Comme Neige for you tonight. You two will get cleaned up and when you are clean you'll have nice clothes to wear, and I'll even get you a hotel room~ I wouldn't want you to keep us up~ Nor would I want us to keep you up!"

"But we're not!" Lovino cried but Francis didn't pay any attention.

"Oh and of course I'll have to arrange a trip for you to Snow White's casket! I'll have a painter and everything! You'll go tomorrow of course, no way I could squeeze you in today, I'm amazing and sexy but not a miracle worker! Bathroom is upstairs, three door to the left! No go! I have some arrangements to make~" And with that Francis skipped out of the house.

"Oh yeah. I forgot about the casket." Antonio said with a chuckle. "We'll have a day off to eat and be clean and hunt for the clue tomorrow."

"What about tonight?" Lovino asked with a red face. "Francis thinks we're gonna... You know."

"Let him." Antonio said with a shrug. "I don't think it really matters. We'll just take the room, and smile. It wouldn't be the first time we've shared a bed."

"Yeah." Lovino said leaning on his arm a bit. "You're right."

Antonio nodded and headed up to the bathroom to strip down and shower. He sighed happily, letting the water run over his skin, washing away the dirt and grime. It felt like far too long since he'd been under the steaming spray. He washed his skin and hair before climbing out and putting on fresh clothes.

Lovino was next into the shower and spent the time wondering how much of their journey was left to do. How many more miles were left before the treasure was in his pockets? At that, how much longer would Antonio be by his side? The thought made his heart drop. He'd have more riches than he could imagine, but he'd lose Antonio. Or would he? Probably… Why would the other choose to stick around?

He snapped back to attention and finished cleaning himself up. He climbed out and dried off slowly with the soft as cloud towel. After dressing, Lovino left the bathroom, feeling fresh and clean. By that time, Francis had already come back and was chatting happily with Antonio.

"Ah, there he is~" Francis chuckled, "I won't dare keep you two another second!" he got up and fixed Lovino's hair, despite the other slapping at his hands, before sauntering off somewhere else.

"I'm going to kick him…" Lovino huffed.

"Don't do that. Come on, our reservations are at six." Antonio said holding out his hand. Lovino took it with a blush and off they went. They walked through the streets, wandering through the people who were happily enjoying their dates, selling heart shaped chocolates and kissing or hugging or anything else to show their affections.

Lovino shifted, slightly uncomfortable with all the gushy lovey dovey stuff all around him. He glanced at his traveling partner, his cheeks reddening a bit more. Looking away, he noticed they were nearing the restaurant Francis had booked them at.

Antonio gave the name and they were let through and led to a nice table. Around them, there were many couples sharing the evening with each other, eating heart shaped steaks of meat or heart shaped pies. Lovino was almost getting sick of the shape. However, he lost his train of thought when he glanced back at Antonio once again and felt his heart pound heavily in his chest.

His breath left him as he grew lost in the beautiful green eyes that sparkled with the candle light in front of them. Lovino barely heard the waitress as she asked what they wanted to drink or if they wanted the specials.

Antonio chuckled softly and ordered for them since Lovino seemed a bit out of it. He leaned back and sighed happily, looking around the nice, comfortable restaurant. The full moon was still weighing down on him, still feeling like he had no energy. He couldn't wait for the night to be over.

As their water was brought out, Antonio took notice of Lovino's dreamy look. The wolf felt a warmth settling in inside him. It was nice to be out like this and to have the other look at him in such a way.

He smiled softly and this seemed to break Lovino's trance. The other's face became the same shade as his cheek and he looked away. Antonio chuckled softly and perked up when the specials were brought out to them.

"So, after we see the clue tomorrow, when we get our turn at the casket, we should just… rest a bit. I know we should keep moving, but there's no way that man will find us in this crowded city and I'm still exhausted from my night…"

Lovino looked up from his food and nodded, "I suppose another night won't hurt…" he said thoughtfully, before returning to his food. "This is so good…" he groaned softly.

Antonio chuckled softly, "I have to agree~" he said, taking another bite. "We've had a streak of good food… but, I say enjoy it while you can. Who knows where this next clue will even take us. We might end up eating whatever we can catch for the next several days. Might not always taste that great…"

"Toni, don't ruin this for me. Let's just hope that for the next however long it takes us to get there, we have nothing but great food and warm beds, okay~?" he smiled up at the wolf.

Antonio smiled brightly in return and nodded, "Here's hoping~!"

After a few minutes passed Antonio spoke again, but this time softer and in a more serious tone.

"Lovino..."

"Yeah?"

"When we find this treasure, what next?" Antonio asked

"I uh... We go home I guess. Start better lives..."

"Could... Could it be the same home? Or uh, you know at least very close to each other?" Antonio asked

"Um..." Lovino blushed darkly, his heart pounding in his chest. "Yes! I mean, uh..." He looked away, hiding a smile. 'If that's what you want, because, uh I don't really care."

"Good. Because I don't want this to be the end of, us?" He chuckled, reaching across and taking Lovino's hand. "I would miss you too much." He said with a bright smile

Once their meals were finished and plates practically licked clean, the two men chatted about little stories from their childhoods. Antonio told of the time he'd gone out sniffing and got his head stuck in a rabbit hole until Dimas came to save him. Lovino told about the time his brothers and him got the great idea to cook their grandfather something to eat. Marcello ended up covered head to toe in flour, Feliciano in smushed up tomato and Lovino desperately trying to wash the smell of garlic and onion from his clothes.

Every so often, Lovino still found himself fading out of reality, lost in Antonio's eyes or feeling the warmth of his deep voice. He would laugh at each silly tale or joke and study the other closely. He felt like he was being pulled towards the other at a near constant rate. Despite fighting it, he couldn't help but feel like sitting on the other's lap would be a great idea. Luckily for him, he didn't do it and end up looking foolish or embarrassed.

An hour passed before the two paid their check, a shared dessert plate empty between them. They got up and Lovino grabbed Antonio's hand without hesitation. He leaned against him and smiled, just as tired as the other now. Antonio smiled warmly and let him. He was loving every moment of this and some where in the back of his head, he truly hoped that what they said was true. He really wanted Lovino to fall in love with him. He paused and blinked, wondering if he truly had just thought that. He glanced at Lovino and wondered how dead he would be if the other knew he had thought it. He then wondered what had come over him. Sure the other was succulent and enticing, but that wasn't that kind of attraction.. was it?

Antonio felt his heart leap when they walked to the hotel and got the key to their room. Swaying happily to the music that gently played in the streets, Lovino waited for Antonio to unlock the door. They walked inside and Lovino kicked off his shoes, not wasting another moment before collapsing on the sheets that smelled faintly of roses and sweet chocolate. He groaned and nuzzled into the pillow happily.

He felt the bed shift when Antonio crawled onto the soft bedding. They tiredly and uncaringly curled up beside each other and in a matter of seconds, both were asleep, holding the other close. Lovino's face was pressed against Antonio's chest, while Antonio's face nuzzled into his soft hair.

Antonio looked down into Lovino's sweet, beautiful face, drifting slowly into sleep, he thought,

_I hope he falls in love with me, _

_Because I'm in love with him. _


	8. Chapter 8

When morning came, Lovino found himself awoken to the great feeling of being refreshed and well rested. It was a wonderful feeling and he didn't want to move from the soft bed. He glanced over at Antonio, whom was still fast asleep, a lopsided grin on his face. Lovino couldn't stop himself from smiling.

"Toni..." he nudged him, "Wake up, we have a big day today... gotta find that clue." Antonio didn't move other then his grin widening. "I'm gonna get a shower, if you're not up by then, I'm leaving without you!"

Lovino got up and went into the bathroom. Antonio sat up and with a wicked laugh hid in the closet. He watched from the door as Lovino came back into the room, a towel draped around his body.

"Antonio? " He asked looking around. "Toni..."

Antonio suddenly popped out of the closet and pounced onto Lovino pinning him to the bed with a playful growl. "Goooooood morning!" Antonio said chuckling, his tail wagging behind him.

Lovino laughed, though his cheeks were bright red. "What? Get off..." he ordered weakly. "I gotta get dressed. .."

"Nope!" Antonio said keeping him pinned. "I'm the alpha here ." He leaned down and planted kisses all over Lovino's face. Lovino blushed, but supposed it must be similar to dogs licking.

Lovino gasped softly, his hands clenching at Antonio's loose shirt as the wolf pressed him deeper into the bed beneath him. Their bodies against each other, Antonio's warm chest beating down on Lovino's smooth one. Antonio's shirt had slid up, so his bare chest was pressed against Lovino. A thick haze hung in the air, a sweet and heavy smell accompanying it.

Antonio's movements calmed, his light kisses against his cheeks now longer and less frenzied. They strayed from his cheeks to his neck, and to the corners of his lips. A flick of his tongue on his neck sent shivers down Lovino's spine. He didn't protest, he felt too lost in what Antonio was doing to him to notice how he shouldn't like it as much as he did. A soft nip at his jaw, a gentle roll of hips, a squeeze on his thigh.

"Hghh..."

The towel around Lovino's waist was loosened by Antonio's gentle hands. Lovino gasped softly, his toes curling as Antonio's warm hand moved over his slender hips. Lovino's hands held tightly to the sheet beneath him, and he shyly rolled his hips, turning his head away his cheeks a bright red. Antonio took the opportunity to nip at his exposed neck gently.

"Ah... Antonio..." Lovino sighed softly.

"Hello~!" Francis cooed from the door, after slamming it open. "Oh? Did I interrupt something?"

Antonio suddenly jumped up, his face red. Lovino pulled his towel up, promptly curling up in a ball, hiding his face in a pillow.

"No, nothing." Antonio said in a shaking voice, reeling from what he had just done. Shit, did he make Lovino mad? He seemed to be enjoying it...

"Oh ho~ No need to lie but if you insist! Anyway, I got you a painting appointment at the casket at 1. Be there early, and be nice~ And try not to get too hot and heavy in the casket! You could get fined." Francis said handing Antonio a paper. "You'll need this to prove its you. Have fun you too!" Francis left with a wave and a blown kiss.

"Uh... So yeah, we should... We should get ready." Antonio said not looking Lovino in the eye. He pulled his shirt down grabbing his jacket.

Lovino sat up once Francis left, and sighed. "Stop it."

"Stop what?" Antonio asked softly, not turning to him

"Acting guilty. So you got a little horny while you were on top of me..." Lovino said with a blush. "I should kick your ass." He said with a soft glare. "But I uh, I didn't..." His face grew darker. "I didn't... mind." He squeaked out before running into the bathroom to change.

Antonio stood there, a little flabberghasted by what Lovino said. He grinned, he blushed and his tail wagged so hard he knocked over a lamp.

"Shit!" he turned to pick it up, hearing a laugh from the bathroom.

Lovino came out of the bathroom a moment later, his cheeks still pink, but a happy smile seemed to be embedded on his lips.

"Ready?" Antonio asked. Lovino nodded and the two left their hotel room and entered the busy streets of the city.

Lovino noticed people were still just as loving and romantic as before, some he'd seen the day before. He wondered if it ever did get annoying here. Then again, how could it when everyone seemed so sweet and cheery?

Antonio grabbed his hand to turn him down a sharp street and Lovino blushed, but didn't protest. He even made a point to squeeze his hand gently.

They walked hand and hand to the hill just outside of the village, laughing and talking. They reached the casket, and Lovino gasped.

It was so lovely, made of gold and glass so well cared for throughout the years. The glass gleamed in the sunlight, golden light seemingly shining off it. Hand carved curls and curves of gold were dusted into the glass, the cushion inside a deep red made of velvet so soft it felt unreal.

Antonio showed the man the paper and he directed them how to sit. Lovino was helped into the casket by both Antonio and the painter, laying on his back his hands folded over his stomach. Antonio sat on a stool and leaned down on the side of the casket, laying his head on his arms, staring down at Lovino.

"Just stay still for about an hour or so, the painting should be done by then."

"Thank you." Antonio told him, his eyes not leaving Lovino's face. "Lovino, don't take this the wrong way, but you don't really know the story of Queen Snow White do you?"

"No..." Lovino said closing his eyes for the painting.

"Oh, it's a beautiful story. She was about fourteen, living in her step mother's castle, usually doing busy work, and staying inside. Now, Snow White had always been a beautiful child, but still just a child, not quite a lady. Now every day her step mother would stand in front of a mirror and whisper to it 'Mirror mirror, on the wall. Who is the fairest of them all?'" he said in his best 'fair' queen's voice.

"Fairest?" Lovino asked, trying not to laugh at the silly voices Antonio was using to tell him the story.

"Like beautiful." He said with a grin. "Much like someone else I know~"

"Right... Whatever keep going" he nodded with a soft blush

"Anyway, everyday the magic mirror would say back 'Why you my queen.'" his voice deepening to a 'magic mirror' voice, " He told her this every time she asked, but one day, not long after little Snow White came to the age of fourteen, the queen stood in front of her mirror and said once again 'Mirror mirror on the wall. Who is the fairest of them all?' But on that day he responded 'You, my queen, are fair; it is true! But Snow White is a thousand times fairer than you.'. Of course the Queen didn't like that... So she hired a Woodsmen to take Snow White out into the woods, kill her and bring her, her heart."

"Why?" Lovino asked, face contorting into a grimace.

"For proof, but mostly to eat it and absorb her beauty."

"What?" Lovino said, sitting up, his eyes opening and his head jerking.

"Stay still sir." The painter said. Lovino sighed and laid back down.

"Yep. So the Woodsmen did as he was asked, he brought Snow White out to the woods, but when he looked into her lovely face, he couldn't do it. She looked positively scared and confused. So he let her go, telling her to hide, and brought the Queen a Pig's heart instead, and he thought that Snow White would be safe. When Snow White ran into the woods, she found herself in the Dwarf's Cottage and they welcomed her there. But At home, The Queen looked into the Mirror and asked 'Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?"

"And the mirror told her Snow White again, right?"

"Yep. It even told her where to find her. So three times, dressed as an old woman she went to kill Snow White herself. The first time with a corset to choke her. Next a poison comb, but each time the Dwarves found her and saved her. But one day, the Queen had a better plan, sure to work. A poison apple. She gave Snow White the apple and even stayed with her until Snow White choked and died. Much later when the Dwarves found her they brought her here, to this very spot on this very hill, in this exact casket hoping someone could wake her."

"And?"

"And then, this Prince, this charming Handsome, I mean, wow handsome Prince comes trotting by. Now side note, it's believed he might have been at least part wolf~" Antonio said with a wink. "Anyway, he comes riding by, and sees her, laying in the casket. It's love at first sight for ol' Prince as he gets off his horse and comes over, cupping her smooth face." Antonio cupped Lovino's gently. "He couldn't believe a lovely girl like this had died. So he does something crazy. He leans in real close, placing a kiss on one cheek..."

Antonio gently kisses Lovino's cheek.

"Then the other..." He kisses his other.

"Before he..." He ran a finger over Lovino's lips. "Kisses her." Antonio stared down at Lovino, a moment passes. He licks his lips, and leans in close. "It's a kiss so wonderful... So full of love that they say... It made this land magic, blessed it... Imagine what two of those kisses would do..."

"Huh..?" Lovino says softly, his eyes starting to flutter open, before Antonio presses their lips together,

He kissed Lovino gently. Lovino melted into the kiss immediately. The casket lit up with gold, but still they kissed... Antonio held Lovino's jaw gently, kissing him deeply. Lovino sat up just a bit his hands both grabbing Antonio's hair, curling up under his hat.

Antonio tasted like chocolate, sweet and rich. Antonio licked at his lips gently. Lovino tasted more like sugary fruit, like strawberries and cherries. Soft hints of the flavors dancing on his lips.

Antonio pulled back, looking Lovino into his eyes. "Well that uh... Activated the clue."

"Yeah... I guess we did..."

"Lovino..." Antonio whispered softly, leaning his forehead against Lovino's.

"Yeah?" Lovino closed his eyes half way... Antonio was so warm...

"I love you. I've loved you since... I don't even know but damn... I love you." he spoke, his voice soft, although it slightly wavered with nervousness. Lovino gasped gently, taking Antonio's hand.

"Antonio..." Lovino said softly, smiling a tear running down his face. he cupped Antonio's face, a quiet laugh coming from his lips, he sat up looking Antonio in the eyes. His stupid, beautiful eyes. "Antonio I lo-"

A silver arrow flew through the air, cutting Lovino off and hitting Antonio, sending him backwards, blood spewing from him. Antonio let out a pain filled gasp and didn't move otherwise.

"Antonio!" Lovino cried sitting up, leaning forward to grab at Antonio, fear gripping his heart. He gave a cry as a rough hand pulled his hair, lifting him from the casket. "No!" He screamed out. He was thrown over the shoulder of the Woodsmen. "Antonio!" Lovino cried. People swarmed trying to see what was happening, Antonio still wasn't moving and the Woodsmen ran, taking Lovino with him. Lovino kicked and screamed as people blocked him from seeing Antonio. The Woodsmen held him tightly, holding his legs down. People tried to come after them, to save him but the Woodsmen was so fast...

"ANTONIO!" he screamed out once more before pain flashed through his head and his world went black.


	9. Chapter 9

Lovino came to slowly, his head resting on something soft and warm. It felt almost like Antonio's wolf form fur. He petted it slowly his eyes not opening all the way. A rough hand touched his face. Lovino's eyes opened suddenly sitting up, regretting the decision almost immediately when his head throbbed. The Woodsmen leaned in front of him. His face hidden behind his hat, mask and some sort of cloth covering.

"You!" Lovino yelped in fear and surprise, "You murderer!" He screamed backing away, but found his foot was chained down.

"That's a rude thing to say to your lover Lovino." He said darkly, eyes glinting with a certain cruelty.

"Is that what this is about? You have a fucking crush on me!? So you fucking kill my... My.." Tears pricked at his eyes. "You killed him. He loved me. I loved him. And you fucking killed him."

"I did it for you. For us." He ran a hand down his thigh. "He was a monster."

Lovino slapped his hand away. "Don't touch me!"

"You'll get over it soon. It was just a wolf." the Woodsmen said sitting back. "Let's get to know each other a bit. I know everything about you. But maybe you will trust me and grow to love me if you knew me."

"I don't give a shit about you." Lovino said darkly. "I hate you."

"I was always alone." he started, ignoring Lovino completely. "My parents murdered by wolves when I was very young. Young enough I don't remember them very well, mind you, but still old enough I could just survive on my own."

"Shut the fuck up." Lovino hissed, just wanting this to be over as soon as possible.

"I love how blunt you are, have since I met you but I'll get to that." He said "Now sit closer to me." He pulled Lovino's chain so Lovino was right next to him, paying no mind to the other yelping in discomfort. "So anyway I was alone and hungry. I learned to hunt. Most children, as I found out later, would have had problems killing animals, tearing them apart and eating them. But I rather enjoyed it. So I got good at hunting. The best by the time I was a man. I ate and sold my wears in towns all over the country. I memorised the world I live in from the Bean stalk forrest all the way to the Dragon ruins.

"But one day, about a year ago I stumbled upon a lovely little village. A dazzling... Hypnotic red cloak dancing away from where I stood." He ran a hand over the cloak. Lovino pulled it away from him. "I ran over to him, and got his attention. When he turned to me, with those big eyes I knew it was love. That's you Lovino. I love you, and always have. I'm sure you remember. I was so different then. It was before my accident." He pulled off his hat, cloth and mask.

Lovino's eyes widened. His face was heavily scarred around his left eye. The eye itself was covered in a thick white tissue, leaving the man obviously blind on that side. The Woodsmen was right, Lovino did know him, and he did look very different...

"_Excuse me." A soft, yet gruff, voice said from behind him. Lovino turned to face him, a frown on his face. "I couldn't help but notice..." _

"_What the fuck do you want?" He snapped, irritated by both being bothered and the merchant who wouldn't barter lower. The man seemed to blush _

"_I just thought you were stunning. Sexy as fuck walking around with that cloak, and those shorts." He said his dark eyes glinting. "Come with me." _

"_What. the. fuck." Lovino said with a snarl. "You pervert." He turned to walk away, forgetting the produce he'd been buying, but the man gripped his arm and yanked him back. _

"_Don't you walk away from me!" He snarled in Lovino's face. _

"_Is there a problem?" One of the merchants yelled over to them. _

"_No sir!" The man said, but before he let Lovino go he whispered. "I'll get you. Eventually I will. I swear by it." _

Lovino had brushed off the experience, burying it in his memory to the point where he had almost forgotten the ordeal. Why would he want to remember something like that?

"See, I told you. I have you now..." He whispered, leaning in closer to Lovino.

Lovino growled softly, his hand clenching at his side. He lifted his fist, punching him him in the nose. A sickening crack echoed through the air and blood dripped down the hunter's face and Lovino's knuckles. The twisted man reared his hand back and slapped Lovino so hard across the face, the sound bounced around the room and Lovino fell over with a whimper of pain, gripping his face.

"Fine. Be that way. I'm going out for a bit, and when I come back if you're not more agreeable..." He chuckled darkly, leaning down grabbing Lovino's hair, lifting him up a bit. "Well, that might make the sex a little bit more interesting." He dragged his tongue over Lovino's cheek, licking up the salty tears. He stood and walked to the door and opened it, a staircase just outside it. "I'll be back at sunset tomorrow. Be ready." He slammed the door behind him.

Lovino stood up on shaking knees once he was gone, rubbing his face in disgust. He looked around the room trying to figure out a way to escape. The room was a circle with a pelt for a bed on one side. For a moment Lovino thought it was Antonio's but it was much too dark and the pattern wasn't quite right. Across from the locked door the Woodsmen just left through there was a window. Lovino ran over to it, hissing as he leg jerked against the chain. He leaned over and peered over the edge. It was at least four to five stories high. Even if Lovino could get free from the chain he would either die or be seriously injured from the fall.

"There's no way for you to escape." Said a small, sad voice, almost like a child's. Lovino's head whirled around to a small bird in a cage. There was a little silver feathered bird with bright eyes.

"Um..."

"I'm a talking bird. That awful hunter caught me." She said "Please let me go. I can find help for you!" She pleaded.

"Of course!" Lovino said pulling her cage open. "But... There's no one left to get…" his face fell as the memory of Antonio and what happened resurfaced, "Wait. Francis! Do you know the town of love?"

"Yes! But… it's pretty far from here though. It will at least take me a day."

"Damnit... He'll be back by then... he might move me. Still. Go find a man named Francis. He owns a huge bakery. He's probably looking for me... Or he will once he buries..." his voice choked up on him and tears began streaming down his face at just the mere thought of Antonio being buried. "Just get him. Please. And on the off chance... He might not be.. if you see a wolf, or man thing named Antonio, dark hair and green eyes, Get him."

"Right! I'll get him. Thank you!" She sang before flying away.

Lovino sank to the ground, pulling his knees to his chest. Who was he kidding? Antonio was dead. His shoulders trembled and he choked out a sob. Thinking of Antonio hurt his heart so much... Had he only been given two more seconds, Antonio might've died knowing how much he loved him back. But now he was dead. He'd be buried six feet under and Lovino would never see him again. The only man to see passed his rough exterior and love him for who he was… and he was gone. He lied down, holding himself tightly as he cried, mourning the loss of his beloved wolf until the pain dulled away and he fell into a fitful sleep.

The next morning Lovino woke slowly, feeling sore and itchy. He sat up but his head felt so heavy... He reached up to his hair but... There was more than he expected. His hair was long. Not just long, but... _Long. _It went down past his shoulders... He stood, and looked around. It was longer than he was, it was... Every where!

"What... The hell!?" He screamed. "My hair!" He ran his hands through it, it was so long... Several feet of it filled the room covering the floor. "What the hell am I gonna do?" He asked aloud. "Antonio would know how to fix this..." He could practically hear his voice saying his name...

_Lovino... _

"Lovino!... LOVINO!" Lovino's head perked up. Was... Was he hearing things? He ran to the widow, and looked down. Antonio stood at the base of the widow. His hat and usual coat were gone, but his coat was different and new. "Thank God!" Antonio yelled, relief settling onto his face.

"Antonio!" Lovino yelled down, tears falling down his cheeks. "You're alive!" he choked out the happy sob, finding himself needing to bury his face against the other's chest.

"Yeah! But that's not important. Are you ok? Did that son of a bitch hurt you?"

"Not really. But Antonio, my hair. It's so long!"

"I'm not surprised. This is Rapunzel's tower. It's been lost for years. It's also our next clue location! There's a door here but it's locked and I can't break it down or pick it."

"Doesn't matter I'm chained up." Lovino said

"What kind of metal? Wait, I'll see when I get up there!" Antonio called up.

"What are you gonna do climb? The wall is too smoo-" Lovino stopped before he paled. "No. No you're not doing that!"

"You want to stay locked up there? If not... Lovino, Lovino let down your hair!" Antonio yelled with a grin.

"I fucking hate you!" Lovino yelled before grabbing his hair... "This is gonna hurt like hell..." He tossed it through the window. It fell all the way to the ground, but there was enough so that Lovino could sit on so maybe the stress of the pulling wouldn't reach his head...

It took a bit but Antonio managed to pull himself up, it didn't seem to hurt as much as Lovino expected. Or at all really. Antonio came through the window, and pulled Lovino into his arms, picking him up and holding him tightly.

"I was so scared I lost you forever..." Antonio mumbled into his hair, before pulling him back and kissing him lightly.

"How did you.. mmm.." Lovino was cut off by a second kiss "Find me?" Another kiss.

"Your scent. I could follow it anywhere.. So sweet and..." he kissed him again. "Just... Mmm. Now lets get you out of here." He leaned down to the chain around Lovino's ankle and with incredible strength pulled it apart. "There we go."

Lovino bit his lip... Was Antonio really that strong? His stomach turned with adrenaline at the idea of how strong Antonio was. He felt a heat growing in his belly the more he thought about it. He was jerked away from the thoughts by Antonio's slightly rushed voice.

"So yeah the clue was something about hair as yellow as corn and a tower. This one. Your hair must grown because of some old magic." As Antonio said this gold words lit up on the wall behind them.

_From dirt and dust, to riches and gold,_

_Go the castle of royals, old,_

_Your journey is done after two clues more,_

_Until you reach those who came before, _

_The pumpkin to carriage, the girl of light,_

_Go and be out by the stroke of midnight._

"So... Where's that one? Is it lost too?" Lovino asked.

"Nope. That's quite found. It's the castle Cinderella had the ball in... It's also the one that the Kingdom's Royal family lives in and it's where the Queen is."

"Oh. Can we get in then?"

"Maybe... I think there's the annual Cinderella's Ball coming up. But one thing at a time. You could use a hair cut." Antonio teased pulling out a knife. "Wait. Lets use it to get out of here."

Antonio bit his lip in thought as he took a look around. He drummed his fingers on the window sill and motioned Lovino over. He took the long tresses and hooked them around a support beam, "Alright, let's go." he hooked his arms around Lovino, holding him tightly and carefully scaled the wall, dropping down himself about two thirds the way and letting Lovino fall down into his arms.

Once they were settled and standing, Antonio grabbed his knife and tried to cut his hair... But it wouldn't cut.

"Um..."

"What is it Antonio?" Lovino asked.

"It won't cut."

"So, what am I gonna have long hair forever?" He asked "That sounds... Awful."

"Well maybe not. There's a Ax Man in theses woods. I heard something about him last time I was in the area. They say he has a magic ax that can cut anything. It's worth a shot."

"That's good. Lets go and see if we can find him... And maybe get away from this tower." Lovino said gathering up his hair. "Now, he'll be back any minute."

"Right. Want a ride?" He asked.

"Sure. Maybe I can braid this... All five stories of it..." Antonio nodded turning into his giant wolf form. Lovino climbed on, and held on as Antonio trotted from the tower.

It felt like hours, Antonio walked through the woods as Lovino braided his hair, really glad his brother made him learn as a child. He was able to braid it so intricately, when he walked it would only hang around his ankles. Antonio stopped and Lovino slid off, before seeing why.

An older man with blond hair, whose back was turned to them was chopping wood with such ease it was... Magical. Once Antonio was dressed, he approached him

"Hello!" He said waving.

"Hello." The man said not turning to him.

"That's an interesting ax." Antonio said. "Could we borrow it, for like a second?" He asked.

"Nope." He chopped another block of wood. "Well… You _can_ have it."

"Oh well ok I what…?" Antonio said, confused.

"If you guess my name."

"We can do that." Lovino said. He suddenly remembered a story his grandfather told him as a child. it was his turn to be the smart one.

"If you accept, one of you must be strapped down. If don't guess by the time I finish chopping all this wood, I get to chop off his head."

"Oh then no-" Antonio started

"Deal." Lovino said with a grin.

"What? Lovino..."

"Toni babe, I got this." He said batting his eyes. "I know what his name is."

"Fine." Antonio said softly. He let the Axman tie him down.

"Start." He said grabbing a piece of wood.

"Rumpelstiltskin!" Lovino said confidently.

"No." And he chopped the wood.

"Rumpelstiltskin. That was your plan?"

"Yeah it's an old story right? Its the only one I kinda know."

"Lovino. This isn't a clue or anything. This is just a crazy axeman who likes chopping off people's heads!" Antonio said struggling, but found he couldn't escape, or change form. "Dammit this is silver! Lovino please tell me you can do this because I can escape..."

"I'll give you a hint, my name. Is in that hat." He pointed to his hat on a stump. "If you were quiet enough you could look. I'm blind so I won't see you. But if I hear you move towards it, which I will I chop off his head."

"Shit... Um Fred, George, Harry..." Lovino panicked naming off names at light speed.

"No." and he kept chopping.

"Hey..." A small voice said softly. Lovino looked up still naming any name he could think of. It was the bird.

"Tom, Dick, Sal..." He pointed to the hat. The bird seemed to understand. The axman was almost done, only three left... two.

The bird flew back to Lovino. One. He whispered the name. The Axeman moved to Antonio, raising the ax.

"Lovino!"

"Hold it there!... Juliette."

The man stopped and laughed. "Very good you guessed my name." he undid the bond on Antonio handing him the ax. "Enjoy it."

"Holy shit..." Antonio said taking it and running to Lovino, grabbing him and getting them the hell away from that mad man.

"So," Antonio said as Lovino laid down his hair cross a stump. "The crazy homicidal axeman named Juliette." he muttered, going to slice through the thick hair.

"Apparently." Lovino said, great relief lifting off his shoulders, literally, when the hair tumbled to the ground. He sighed happily, the spell broken. They spent the next twenty minutes or so in silence as they worked to trim Lovino's hair about to where it had been before.

Once it was done, Antonio set the ax and his pocket knife to the side as Lovino turned to look at him. His usually standoffish eyes were softer than they had been in the loving atmosphere of the casket. Lovino lurched forward and wrapped his arms tightly around Antonio, "This is a dream, isn't it..? I'm going to wake up in that horrid man's pile of pelts and you'll be dead."

Antonio blinked, then his face softened and he wrapped his arms around Lovino in return, running his fingers down his back, "No, I'm here… I'm okay. He's not as good an aim as he thinks and I had a book under my coat. The arrow didn't go as deep as it would have."

Lovino sniffled and pulled back, "It's too good to be true, Toni…" he said softly, gently rubbing the wolf's angular jaw.

"Ah, but this is out fairytale, so anything can happen, yes~?"

The other couldn't stop from chuckled softly and nodding, "I suppose that's true…" he leaned in to kiss Antonio again, pouring his love into it, letting Antonio know he appreciated everything.

They broke apart, gasping for air and Lovino nuzzled against him, "We should keep moving. We really haven't put a lot of distance between us and that prick. I don't want him actually getting the chance to kill you this time."

Antonio nodded in agreement and stood up. He grabbed up his knife and their things before turning to the other. "You know..." He whispered softly. "Since we were interrupted by Francis the other day..."

Lovino's face turned red, and he turned away though a small smile settled on his face. He thought back to how strong Antonio was... If he could pull chains apart with those big hands... What else could they do? Lovino looked up at the other and tried to speak but to no avail. Instead just nodded with a darker blush.

"Then lets go~"

They held hands tightly, giggling softly as they searched for a romantic spot. Occasionally, Lovino would look up adoringly at Antonio, the wolf who risked life and limb for him, keeping him safe and challenging death to be with him. It was the most anyone person had ever done for him. This amazing, handsome, sexy...

Lovino's thoughts were cut short at one point as he heard a cry of, "There you are!" before pain spread out throughout his body as he was slammed against the ground, someone sitting down on top of him. He gasped out in fear and pain, but looked up at the naked man sitting on him, long dark hair spilled out over his shoulders, blue eyes staring down, "Oh, wait… you're not him. Never mind. Sorry for the mistake."

"Dimas!?" Antonio yelped, pulling his older brother off of Lovino. He helped Lovino up and looked at his brother who still hadn't covered up. Lovino hid his face, trying not to look at naked Dimas.

"I thought he was someone else. I've been tailing this guy for weeks trying to get the money he owes me."

"So you just tackled Lovino!?"

Dimas shook his head, grinning, "It was an honest mistake Antonio, I didn't mean to tackle him. I thought it was this other guy."

Antonio rubbed Lovino's back, sighing softly. "Why are you naked?"

"I was hanging out in wolf form. Also, I may have lost my clothes." Dimas said with a sheepish grin. "But in all seriousness, I could really use some pants." Antonio rolled his eyes taking a pair out of his bag, handing them over. "Thanks. I suppose I should give up. Lost his scent days ago... Shame though. Home is a long way away, of only there was someone who I could travel with..."

"Dimas..." Antonio said with a long sigh. "Would you like to come with us on our magical quest..." He asked bitterly. "Since you probably have no money, food or any chance of going home alive."

"I'd love to. I mean I would take some cash and go, but there may also be a bounty on my head in that part of the country."

"So Lovi... Dimas is gonna come with us. Yay."

"Yay." Lovino mumbled into his hands, disappointment written all over his body "That's just... So great."


End file.
